A Different Reality
by CrimsonCat101
Summary: ON HOLD Naruto left the village after being abused at the age of six. Now that he returns at age eleven, what suprises does he have for the village? NarxHina. Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto
1. The Start of Something New

CrimsonCat101: Yes people, I have started a second story. This story is a NaruxHina, but that will come in time. Also Hinata will be mentioned in this chapter maybe the next one, and then will be brought back later. So Relax! This story is going to have something I've never seen done before. I CAN'T WAIT! Until then enjoy!

REVIEW!!!!!!!

* * *

A Different Reality

-The Start of Something New-

Naruto raced through the bustling streets of Konoha, his heart pounding in his chest, and his breathing rushed from exhaustion.

"I'm so late!" The young blonde boy dodged the moving figures as he made his way to the academy.

It was his first day and he didn't want to make a bad impression. He was six years old now. He had been living in his apartment since he was five. The Sandiame moved him there saying that something turned up at the orphanage and they could no longer care for him. At first Naruto was excited that he got to live on his own. Sandiame took care of the rent, and even gave him allowance.

He was about three blocks away from the academy doors when he bumped into a massive figure. Naruto yelped and fell on his behind slowly moving his gaze up to the man's face.

The stranger's face was twisted in anger, and he roughly stood six feet tall. His face was rough and his hair was short and black. Once Naruto met his eyes he knew what was to come.

It always did.

"Well, I don't believe my eyes, the person I want to see, has come to see me." The man laughed, lifting Naruto by the collar of his black T-shirt. Naruto struggled, trying to break free, but was failing miserably. Two other men stood by the one who had a firm grasp on his shirt. The both were smirking at the small blonde's predicament.

"So what should we do to the demon?" The one said asked on the right of the black-haired man.

"Well we should take him for a walk right around the bend. It is the least we could do to repay him." The one on the mans left spoke, jabbing a finger towards the alley. Naruto's eyes began to water, drenching his black T-shirt.

"Please d-don't hurt me." The six-year old cried. The man holding him sneered turning to his left.

"You know what? I think we _should _take him for a walk." His two buddies smirked at the decision.

* * *

Pain 

The one word summed up his entire life.

The beating continued against his small body. His mind screamed to flee, but his arms were pinned to the wall by the two other men.

Blood soaked his shirt and bruises covered his arms, legs, but mostly his gut. The man smiled in satisfaction as he looked at his handiwork. The two men who held him to the wall released his wrists, when the man beating on him had finished.

Naruto's arms dropped to his sides, as his knees buckled, and he fell to the ground in pain.

Even when he had cried for help, few would notice and those that did just glared at him, while walking away.

"Demon why call for help when no one will come to your rescue? Who would care for such a monster?" Naruto watched as the man squatted down to look directly at Naruto's eyes that now shed many tears. "I bet not one person would care if you dropped dead right now. The people would actually celebrate over your death, and I would happily dance atop your grave." Naruto cried as he watched the men leave him in his broken state.

Naruto continued to cry as he watched someone walking down the alleyway. "P-please h-help…me," he sobbed. The man stopped to glance at him, then continued on his way.

"Why?" The blonde cried.

He never asked for this. What had he ever done to deserve this?

He winced as he got back onto his feet and staggered towards the wall for support.

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruto." The teacher called receiving no answer. He had brown hair that was pulled up in a ponytail. He wore a chunin vest and a Hitai-ate across his forehead. He also had a distinct scar across the middle of his face and nose. Looking at the attendance sheet he began to wonder if the boy wasn't informed about his first day at the academy. He continued through the attendance, when he neared the end of the list he heard a knock on the door. 

The class began to chatter when he had stopped announcing the names. He went towards the door and opened it, to see no one. He was about to step out when he bumped into something. He looked down to see a young blonde boy with a bright orange jumpsuit. His blonde hair was messy and scruffy, which made him look like someone that lived on the streets. He was leaning against the wall as he stared at his teacher.

"Are you Naruto?" The teacher questioned. The six-year old nodded his head and grinned. "You're tardy, but I'll let it slide since it is your first day." The teacher walked over to his desk and gestured his hand to tell Naruto to come next to him.

Naruto saw this and stiffened, wondering how he was supposed to walk over there with no support, and not show that he was physically hurt. He already hid his bloodied shirt and bruised arms from view, by wearing the orange jumpsuit on top of it. He slowly released his hand from the doorframe, trying desperately to maintain his balance without the aid. He steadily walked over toward the teacher trying to keep his back straight and his legs to move casually.

He made it halfway before falling. He landed in a comical fashion making the class erupt in laughter. Naruto slowly got back on his feet, and laughed loudly.

Seeing his reaction the class stopped.

Naruto stopped laughing and gave an ear-to-ear grin. He raised his right arm and pointed to the middle of the class.

"Laugh while you can because, I'm going to beat everyone of you!"

"Naruto if you're done introducing yourself, there is an empty seat in the back." Iruka said rolling his eyes at Naruto's outburst.

Naruto looked to the back, which was atop the stairs. The blonde winced as he climbed the steps, each seemed to double his pain. Although he had stopped bleeding almost immediately after the incident, he still felt weak. He finally made it to the top and sat next to a girl with lavender pupil-less eyes and short hair.

Naruto nervously sat down next to her. After a few seconds he decided to break the ice.

"Hi, I'm Naruto what's your name?" He said thinking that maybe this was his chance to make a friend.

"H-Hinata." She stuttered, and her gaze dropped towards the floor.

"Hi, Hinata-chan." He paused. He wasn't sure what to say, unsure on how to begin a friendly relationship. Then he noticed that she wouldn't look him in the eye.

'_Is she afraid of me? Does she hate me already?'_ The question bothered him to no end.

While Naruto began to think, Hinata had her own thoughts.

'_Did he just call me Hinata-chan?_' Hinata thought, keeping her sight on the ground.

Naruto began to become uncomfortable under the silence that had befallen the conversation.

"Hey," Hinata jumped a little when he began to speak. "Do you…hate me?" Hinata stared in disbelief.

"Wh-hy would y-you say th-that?" Hinata asked, shocked that he asked such a question.

"Well…you won't look me in the eye so I thought that maybe you're scared of me." The blonde said his eyes now focused on his desk.

"I-I…I don't h-hate you Naruto-kun I-I just-"

"Naruto. Hinata. Do you two even know what I've been talking about?" Iruka questioned, his arms folded and his gaze set on the two. Hinata squirmed under the angry gaze feeling very embarrassed by the sudden attention. Naruto smiled and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid not Iruka-sensei. I didn't even know that you were speaking."

Iruka gaped while the class burst into laughter. Only one thought went through his mind.

'_Oh God. This kid is holding a neon sign that spells trouble all over it_.'

* * *

After class ended Naruto popped the question that had been nagging at him ever since he sat next to her. 

"Will you be my friend?" Naruto asked.

Hinata froze. She began to fiddle her fingers nervously.

"I-I would be…h-happy to Naruto-kun." Hinata watched as Naruto stiffened.

"Really?" Naruto questioned, his hopes rising. She nodded shyly.

Hinata gave a startled squeak when Naruto gave a honest smile that seemed to melt her heart. A small blush graced her facial features.

"I'll be the best friend you ever had! I promise!" He shouted.

* * *

The two left the classroom going their separate ways. Hinata walked over to her father, Hyuuga Haishi. Haishi's cold calculating gaze fell onto Hinata. His body was stern and the way he stood showed that he had total confidence in his abilities. The two left towards the Hyuuga mansion. 

"Hinata, how did your first day go? What did you learn?" Haishi watched as her face turned a slight shade of red.

"I-I made a friend and I-I… I learned about the great shinobi n-nations." Hinata said in a voice no louder than a whisper. Haishi cocked an eyebrow at the new friend remark, but shrugged it off as non-importance.

"Hinata, when we get home we got serious chakra control exercises for you to practice." He said in his usual cold monotone voice. Hinata nodded her head gingerly as they made their way home.

* * *

Naruto went in the opposite direction from where Hinata headed. He walked through the streets ignoring the cold stares that followed him. The cold stares wouldn't bring down his mood today. Not when he had made his first friend! He walked to his apartment wearing a smile that no one could wipe off his face. 

He walked towards the banged up apartment complex. It looked as though a bombed had been set off. It wasn't the nicest home for a six-year old, to say the least.

He walked to his room and unlocked the door with his keys. Ignoring the spray-painted threats all over his door, he opened it. He stepped into his room and switched on the lights.

He cleaned up, ate dinner, which was ramen, and read some books. He usually didn't read the boring informative books, but he wanted to impress his new friend. When he started yawning, he got up and went to bed. Some of the metal springs came out of the mattress making him rather discomforted. He turned and twisted for about an hour before he fell asleep.

* * *

The past week couldn't have been any better. He still got beat up sure, but now he had a friend. At the academy he studied hard and became an average student. On the days he was beat up, he would pull some form of a prank to cheer himself up. One of the pranks concerned the whole class. Before class Naruto brought ten bottles of superglue into the classroom. He super glued _everything_ down in the room. Chairs, books, papers, tables, pencils, pens, chalk, belongings, and anything else in the room was all pasted down. When the class and the Iruka walked in they were stunned that they weren't able to sit down or move anything. Poor Naruto couldn't keep a straight face and ended up scraping the glue off. 

Him and Hinata always did projects and partner activities together. Naruto got to know her throughout the week while talking with her. He always looked forward to school ever since.

Until that unfortunate day however.

Naruto and Hinata left class together after Iruka had dismissed them. Hinata's father only picked her up the first day at the academy; otherwise he would send a branch member to pick her up. This day however he came himself.

"Hinata." The said girl jumped at hearing her name called and turned her eyes away from Naruto to her father, Haishi.

"H-Hai?" She stuttered, looking at her father. Haishi's eyes fell on the mass of blonde hair beside her.

"Is this the friend you told me about?" Haishi said his eyes unmoving from Naruto. Naruto saw his eyes and seen that they were as cold as ice, just as many others were towards him.

"H-Hai father."

"You are to no longer speak with this…disgrace." He said coldly. Hinata pleaded to her father, but he wouldn't hear any of it. He had made up his mind and he would be too stubborn to hear otherwise.

* * *

After Haishi's order he was always seated away from her in class, because the main Hyuuga head had 'said so'. When he tried to sit by her or even go near her Iruka would stop and just shake his head. Naruto was shaken by the fact that when he had finally made a friend, that he couldn't approach her. 

After that his pranks continued worse then ever. His depression grew and he found himself giving more fake grins. His grades dropped instantly and he was now the 'dead last' of his class.

Nothing could make his life any worse.

Or…so he thought.

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CrimsonCat101: Now click the button. You know you want to. It's right there in the left corner come REVIEW!!! 


	2. Dreams

CrimsonCat101: Yes! The story is a movin! I am happy to present the second chapter! Now as for review answers they will appear in my profile so, look there! Also read the bottom notes and R&R. Also can someone tell me what AU means? **I need someone to show me a site to translate original jutsus for free or a simply someone to translate for me.**

Don't forget to R&R!

A Different Reality

-Dreams-

It had been a week now, since Naruto has last talked to his friend, Hinata. It was during class that Naruto noticed that Iruka was occupied with talking to a chunin. While he was busy, Naruto took the chance to speak with his friend. He sneakily approached her. So sneaky in fact, that he accidentally scared her.

She gave a startled squeak, when she noticed the mass of blonde hair hiding under the desk. He put a finger to his lips to tell her that she needed to be quiet, in order to not arose attention. She nodded her head gingerly, to show that she understood his silent gesture.

Hinata began to speak in a voice quieter then the norm. "N-Naruto-kun I-I'm so sorry th-that my father…" She now began to softly cry. "I-I'm so sorry N-Naruto-kun that w-we can't t-talk and—"

Hinata stopped in slight shock when she felt a finger at her lips. Naruto smiled, another one of his true smiles. "Don't cry Hinata-chan, it wasn't your fault. Please don't cry, it's makes me sad to see you cry."

It was at that moment that Iruka had finished speaking with the chunin. The chunin quickly departed using the door to his right. Iruka turned around to face the class when he noticed that the familiar orange was missing.

Hinata quickly whispered to Naruto that Iruka-sensei was going to see them when she had seen the chunin leave. Naruto crawled under the desks, in attempt to reach his desk across the room. Some of the students kicked him, while others scowled in disgust. He was about halfway when someone stopped him by standing in his way. He looked up to see a familiar face.

"Naruto what are you up to? It's not another one of your pranks is it?" Iruka accused, seeing that he had been crawling under desks. Naruto shook his head, left and right, vigorously. Iruka glared unsure on whether to trust the prankster. He then sighed heavily before speaking.

"Well, it doesn't matter now that class is over." Iruka walked over to the front of the class, while Naruto got back onto his feet.

"Class dismissed."

* * *

He was quite happy today, since he had gotten a chance to talk to his friend. He walked through the streets with a happy grin on his face, ignoring the icy-cold glares directed at him. She still didn't hate him either! The thought made him ecstatic as he now dashed towards his apartment. 

He was almost home, when the air was suddenly knocked out of him and he was sent hurtling to a nearby wall. His back hit the wall dead on, and his arms flung out. He then slumped down the wall, groaning in pain. He opened his eyes to see a pair of legs, standing strongly in front of him. He moved his gaze upward to see a white porcelain mask. He clearly knew he was in trouble this time, when he recognized that the person was an ANBU.

"Demon, I can no longer ignore your existence among us. So now, I will take the responsibility of ending your ever-growing evil." People witnessing the scene began to cheer at the ninja's proclamation. Naruto noticed this and his eyes suddenly became lifeless.

'_They all want me dead? Why? I don't understand. What have I done, for them to hate me so? Maybe I should die, they would be happy, wouldn't they?'_

The ANBU raised a kick to the side of the blonde's head in a swift rapid motion. It connected instantly; Naruto was thrown about a meter by the powerful force. The world went black as soon as he felt the impact. He skidded another meter before coming to an abrupt halt. The ANBU walked up to him a murderous smirk plastered on his face behind the mask. He came to a halt before the vessel of the Kyuubi. Unsheathing the ninjaken from his back, he put it so it faced down vertically. He aimed it for the blonde's heart.

"NOW DIE VERMIN!

The blade came down ready to claim the life of the young boy. When it came two inches before it would hit it's target, the blade and its wielder were flung to the opposing wall, with a force much greater then the mans own prior kick. The ANBU looked up to see who would dare interfere with his revenge to the demon.

He was surprised to see one of the legendary sannin with a frown that would scare most of anyone. His arms were firmly crossed and his eyes narrowed in anger.

"Jiraiya-sama, why did you defend him? Don't you know who that boy is?" The ANBU spat pointing at the unconscious boy nearby. Jiraiya nearly exploded in fury. He couldn't believe the people were so blind.

Now it was Jiraiya's turn to get angry. "I know full well who that boy is! I can tell by his whisker marked cheeks. That boy is your savior! Your hero! And this is how treat you him!" He snapped. He then turned to everyone who witnessed the scene.

"This goes for all of you! Could you not trust the Yondiame to completely seal the demon? What you have been treating so wrongly was an innocent SIX-YEAR OLD BOY!" Jiraiya stalked off to the young boy and threw him over his shoulder, holding him by the collar of his clothing. The crowd that had gathered began to whisper to one another and parted for the furious sennin. The ANBU followed nervously when Jiraiya gave him a heated glare, knowing his upcoming punishment all to well.

* * *

The Sandiame groaned as yet another pile of paperwork was thrust atop his desk. He always dreamed that the paperwork would just disappear in a plume of smoke or sent to burn in hell. He's done enough for today…right? He sighed, before taking out his pipe and leaning back against his chair. He thought his work was over after the Yondiame took the job. Now here he was, signing papers once again. Damn, he had to find a successor and fast. 

It was then that the white haired sennin decided to make his appearance. Saurtobi looked at the window's ledge to spot Jiraiya along with a blonde boy. The blonde hung limply under the sennin's arm. The white-haired sennin walked in and set the boy down on the floor gently. He then walked over to Sarutobi, who still had his eyes fixed upon the boy. His fingers interlaced, as he seemed to be in deep thought.

"Mind explaining?" Jiraiya asked, anger noticeable in the tone of his voice. Sarutobi took his eyes off the boy, only to refocus them on his prior student. Before he began he went through a series of hand seals. Making it so the room was soundproof, not allowing the outside to listen in on the conversation.

"Well first, do you know who the boy is?" Sarutobi asked, knowing that he had to play his cards just right. Jiraiya nodded his head as an answer to the question.

"I know full well that the boy is Kyuubi's vessel." Sarutobi shook his head slowly. The action rattled Jiraiya's thoughts. "What do you mean no?"

"I mean, do you know the boy's family history. In other words, _who _he is?" Sarutobi's face was calm throughout the entire conversation. He was diffusing the initial start of the argument quite nicely.

"He's an orphan, that is all that I know. Why do you ask?" Jiraiya questioned wondering where Sarutobi was taking the conversation.

The Sandiame contemplated how he was supposed to deliver the news. All he knew is that he might be at the wrong side of the gun. He sighed heavily before speaking.

"Jiraiya, do you not recognize the similarities?"

Jiraiya cocked an eyebrow and turned to look at the boy. It was then that it hit him like a thousand solid bricks. His eyes widened to a size that seemed inhuman.

"You're not saying that he—"

"Hai, that is what I'm saying."

The only word that Jiraiya could seem to get out is, "How?"

The Sandiame relaxed in his chair and took another puff from his pipe, exhaling the smoke. "Well remember that, Arashi's wife, Kumiko, was pregnant right before the battle with Kyuubi?"

"Well yes, but she had died, before she could give birth." Jiraiya said solemnly, dropping his previous shock.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken." Sarutobi said, Jiraiya looked up with a sudden start. "You see, that is what was reported, but the truth is, Naurto was born the same day his father sacrificed himself for the village. Kumiko went into labor when Kyuubi attacked, because of the sudden stress that was put on her. Naruto was born, and Kumiko died afterward. Arashi then had to use him to seal the Kyuubi."

"He sealed it in his own son?" Jiraiya asked, startled by the sudden turn of events.

"Hai, I'm afraid so. It was not an easy decision for him…trust me. Although he did have a lot more faith in the people, he hoped his son would be treated as a hero, not a menace."

Jiraiya continued to try to digest the new information. All of it seemed too much to take in. When the information slowly sunk in his eyes narrowed in anger.

"Why wasn't I informed?"

Sarutobi saw this coming, but he never found the perfect answer. "Jiraiya I couldn't tell you because—"

"Don't give me any of that crap!" The sennin growled, his fists held tightly at his sides. "I'm taking the kid with me!" He went over to the six-year old boy scooping him up and over his back. "Oh, before I forget." Jiraiya disappeared through the window along with the boy. He came back with an ANBU member. The ANBU's head was hung down in shame. "This is an ANBU who attempted to kill Naruto. Naruto would've been dead, if I didn't happen to be passing by."

The ANBU shuddered when he felt a death glare and killer intent coming from the Hokage. He was starting to regret trying to kill the boy. Not because, he felt sorry for _it_, but rather because of the consequences that were to follow afterward.

"I'll let you deal with this criminal." Jiraiya turned to leave with the blonde boy still slung over his back. He jumped over the window's ledge and landed gracefully on the streets pavement.

The Sandiame secretly smiled as he saw Jiraiya leave. That worked out better then he thought. Naruto needed to leave the village. It would make the boy's life much easier. Jiraiya was so predictable. He himself needed someone to help look after Naruto. The situation at hand made it easier, but it also made him the bad guy.

* * *

The sennin walked towards Konohagakure's gates, leaving with his student's son. As he walked, he heard a man shout something that made him hate the village more then he already did. 

"Jiraiya-sama, are you going to finish the demon off?" Jiraiya stopped in his tracks. Those that had heard the man shout, then saw Jiraiya with the demon slung on his back, and began to cheer.

"The demon will finally meet his end!"

"Death to the demon!"

"We will finally sleep in peace tonight."

Hearing the cheering made Jiraiya furious, to say the least. Before he would have been angry, but now that he knew it was his prior student's son, he was down right furious.

"No, I'm taking him with me to protect him from the likes of you." The sennin growled softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. The crowd stopped cheering as they watched Jiraiya leave Konoha with the blonde boy.

He reached the gates and didn't bother to stop. He flashed his passport to the chunin on guard duty and as he walked away. He didn't care about the village's new perspective on him. He was going to train this young boy to fend for himself.

* * *

Naruto's eyes flickered open to reveal blinding light. He immediately shut his eyes and brought his hand over them to hide from the light. As soon as his eyes adjusted he looked around. Then all the sudden the memories flooded his mind and he winced. 

Was he dead?

He looked around to see a fire. That meant someone was here. The only question is who? He sat up to further observe his surroundings. A white-haired man was approaching with some fish in hand. The man noticed that the blonde had awakened and calmly continued his approach.

"I see that you have awaken." The man said, sitting down by the fire and beginning to arrange the fish, so that they would cook by the flames heat. Naruto continued to blankly stare at the man. He thought about the last events that he could remember, and couldn't recognize the strange man.

"Um, what happened?" The blonde asked. He remembered the ANBU proclaiming his death, the crowd cheering, a kick delivered to the side of his head, and then…blank. He couldn't remember anymore no matter how much he tried.

"Well, lets see…" Jiraiya began thinking about putting it into simple words that a six-year old could understand. "I found an ANBU trying to kill you, while I was passing by, and decided to help you out. I then brought him to the Hokage to receive his punishment. While I was with the Sandiame I decided to take you with me so that I may train you." Naruto looked at him, puzzlement visible on his face.

"Why?" Naruto questioned.

"So that you can defend yourself." Naruto shook his head, which made Jiraiya cock an eyebrow at the peculiar behavior.

"No, I mean…why help me?" Jiraiya looked at the kid with some shock, and then reminded himself about the villagers' actions before he left.

'_The boy must've had a rougher life then I thought. What was Sarutobi thinking?" _He looked back at the boy who was still waiting for his answer.

"What? I can't help a little boy from being killed?"

"No, it's just…" Naruto began to squirm uncomfortably, and his eyes began to fill with unshed tears. "I thought everyone wanted me to die."

Jiraiya moved his gaze away from Naruto and onto the flickering flames in the fire. "Listen kid, you must be strong in order to survive in this corrupt world. There simply is no room for the weak. Just remember, there are no short cuts in life. Wishes and dreams can only come true using your own hands. Everyone needs a dream or goal to strive for…so now I ask, what is your dream?"

Naruto stared at his small hands then closed his eyes to think. _'A dream?…what is my dream?'_

Jiraiya waited for his answer not tearing his gaze away from the small boy. Suddenly the blonde smiled, showing he had made his decision.

"I'm going to be the Hokage." Naruto's eyes opened to reveal a new cerulean blue. Unlike his previous eyes, which were depressed, lonely, and hurt, these eyes were lit with a fiery determination.

Jiraiya saw the eyes, and thought he was seeing ghosts. Those eyes…were the same as his student's. The same will, and determination burned brightly in the blue hues. This made Jiraiya smile.

"What is your reason for wanting to be Hokage?"

"So that everyone will start treating me with respect, and start treating like a somebody and not a nobody!" Naruto gave a grin at the end of his short speech.

Jiraiya smiled and nodded in acceptance. _'It's not a great answer, but it's good for starters. He will learn more as he goes through life. I have high expectations for this boy.'_

Jiraiya began to talk once more. "Alright let's get to work. Let me assure you, my training methods are far from easy. It will be tough, but I know you will pull through in the end. If you are ready to strive for your dream, then you will follow it through to the end." Naruto continued to stare at the man.

"Naruto are you ready to begin?" Jiraiya asked, Naruto returned an affirmative nod.

"Alright we start your training tomorrow, for now let's eat." Jiraiya grabbed the fish that had been roasting by the fire. He handed one to Naruto.

"Thank you…uhhhh."

Jiraiya heard Naruto and nearly slapped himself. "Forgive me, I am Jiraiya, also known as the legendary toad sennin!" Jiraiya said, shouting when he got near the end.

"What's a sennin?" Naruto said innocently. Jiraiya sweatdropped, but regained his composure quickly.

"Never mind just eat."

While they ate, Jiraiya was hit by a thought that hadn't occurred to him.

'_Oh my God! Now that I have a student, my time for research is reduced.'_ Jiraiya began to cry anime style tears.

Naruto didn't notice Jiraiya's actions, but instead was having his own thoughts.

'A new beginning…"

* * *

CrimsonCat101: I can't wait to get this story going. Also, I will time skip Naruto and Jiraiya's training. I will reveal some of it in flashbacks. Sorry, seeing the same training over and over again in other fic's gets tiring.

Until next time!

Push the botton in the left corner. Come oooooon...CLICK IT! REVIEW!


	3. Return of Unpleasant Memories

CrimsonCat101: Alright! The long awaited update is here! Sorry for the delay, but I'm having finals and I still have finals on 6/18/07 and 6/19/07, so I'm almost done with school, FINALLY! So yeah I made this update my longest chapter so that I can make up for the delay.

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto Masashi Kishimoto does.

* * *

A Different Reality

-Return of Unpleasant Memories-

Hinata walked to the academy as a branch member escorted her. She followed the woman in silence as they passed several blocks.

They were about a block away when a blonde haired girl and a pink haired girl came into view. They were gossiping to each other and laughing. A raven-haired boy passed them on the way to the academy, and the girls immediately set their eyes on him and giggled.

When Hinata entered the academy doors, she sat at the back where she usually did. She looked around in search of her blonde friend, but didn't spot him. She waited and watched as the students filed in.

None were Naruto.

She continued to watch the door, hoping the whisker-marked boy would enter. When class started she got a little worried. She wondered if maybe he would be late, because he was pulling a prank. She told herself this throughout the class period.

When class ended she hesitantly walked up to the Iruka. "Iruka-sensei." She whispered. He turned around to face the shy girl, a soft smile across his face. "D-Do you know w-where N-Naruto-kun is?" Iruka looked at her and his smile dropped.

"Hinata, I'm sorry to inform you like this, but," Iruka showed sympathy for the girl. He knew that since Naruto was her only friend, that this news would most likely hurt her quite a bit. He sighed; he to missed the blonde mischief. "Naruto has left the village temporarily, due to some…circumstances."

The news hit Hinata instantly, as her shoulders slumped, and her eyes shook in silent shock. Then she remembered he said temporarily. "W-When will h-he be b-back." She stuttered, her eyes looking at Iruka with a sense of hope.

"I'm afraid that I myself don't have a clue." He looked at the girl as misery clearly filled her features. He spoke again in attempt to cheer her up. "Don't worry though, he will be back one day. We just have to be strong and wait patiently, ok?" Hinata nodded, and walked out the academy doors somberly.

The branch member that was to escort her home was about to ask her why she had stayed after class, but when she noticed the small girl's sadness she decided to leave her be. They walked home in a depressing silence, Hinata's thoughts racing at the events that transpired today. She wondered many things like, why he left, where did he go, and most importantly, when would he come back?

* * *

**(Large time skip; 5 years later)**

"Nevertheless, I'm glad to see that you've come back to us." The Sandiame gave a friendly smile to the boy that stood across from his desk. The boy's blonde hair was unruly and spiked, and his cerulean eyes showed warmth, but also experience in the hardships of life. He wore a crimson trench coat over a black sleeveless top. His pants were black with many pockets for storing scrolls and equipment. A Kunai holster was strapped securely to his right leg. He also wore custom shinobi sandals that were black in color.

"However, I'd like to know where Jiraiya is at this time." The Sandiame asked the eleven-year old, who only sighed before replying.

"Take a guess. Ero-sennin isn't that hard to figure out."

The Sandiame gave a heavy sigh knowing what the boy was trying to imply, "Bathhouse?"

Naruto nodded affirmatively, "Bulls-eye."

The Hokage shuffled through some papers on his desk. "So I'm guessing you want to be tested to determine your rank and status as a shinobi of the Leaf?" Sarutobi questioned, without taking his gaze off the papers cluttered on his desk.

Naruto grinned, "I guess nothing gets past you, huh?"

The Sandiame chuckled lightly, "I guess not."

Naruto already knew almost all the rules and laws of Konoha. If he wanted to be Hokage he had to, right? He knew that the Hokage could test a person however he chose to determine the rank of that person. This procedure was usually taken when said person was just joining the village. It could also be done whenever the Hokage felt it was necessary.

The Sandiame took a puff from his pipe before continuing, "Well, I'll arrange the test, I will have it ready by tomorrow. Until then, why don't look around? You have been gone for five years."

Naruto chuckled sadly, "I might want to see the village, but the village might not want to see me."

"Naruto I know that it will be tough, but I know you will pull through in the end. Unlike others, you will have to work much harder to get the villages' respect."

"I know that all to well…but, thanks anyway." Naruto exited the office through the door, leaving the Sandiame to his thoughts.

* * *

Naruto just exited the Hokage's tower, passing the two guards on the way. He knew he couldn't be beaten anymore, but the hatred filled glares still put him on edge. At least now he knew why they did that. It was during his training when he was informed about the devastating secret.FLASHBACK (4 years ago) 

The force of the Sennin's attack threw Naruto back. The sparring match between the two was an all out taijutsu match. They continued to exchange blows. Unfortunately Naruto continued to take the brunt of most of the attacks. Naruto took a hit to his forehead, throwing him back where he then hit his head against a tree. The force of both attacks made him dazed. Jiraiya took advantage of the moment and gave Naruto a blow to the gut. It was then that he slipped into unconsciousness, his vision blurred until the world went black.

Naruto's vision began to clear, as he looked at his surroundings. He was no longer in the woods, but in some type of sewer. Pipes lined the walls and ceiling, and water filled the passageways to his ankles. An unpleasant scent loomed through the passageways. If he had to describe the scent, he would say that it smelled of death and decay.

While he was observing the area, a faint red glow illuminated part of the passageway. The glow seemed menacing and malevolent. The direction of the red aura was the only lead he had to getting out of this place, so he cautiously walked towards it.

He followed it through, and as he got closer to the source he could now hear a faint growl. He continued towards it, the growling increasing in volume, until he reached a cage that had a paper attached to it. He looked at the paper more closely, only to realize that it read 'seal'. His gaze drifted from the seal and into the cage where an unsettling presence was felt. The pitch black within the cage was suddenly lit with large, red, demonic eyes.

"**Well, look who finally decided to pay a visit."** A demonic voice sneered behind the cage bars. Naruto jumped in surprise, and his eyes widened to a size that seemed inhumanly possible.** "What's the matter brat? Are you perhaps frightened by my awesome power? Because you should be! For I am the great Kyuubi no Kitsune, feared throughout your lands as the greatest Bijuu in existence." **

"Y-your the Kyuubi?" Naruto stuttered in shock.

"**Why yes, actually. Do you know where we are?" **Naruto shook his head slowly as a foxy grin stretched across the Kyuubi's face. **"Brat, we just happen to be inside you."**

"Me?"

"**That's right, I was not killed by that human you call the Yondiame, but rather sealed within a newborn child. This newborn child, just so happens to be you."** Naruto looked at the demon in shock, but after a few seconds that shock turned to anger, as his eyes narrowed in fury.

"You're the reason the villagers hate me!" Naruto growled.

"**Hai, they believe you to be I. They see you as their scapegoat for what I have wrought."** Kyuubi watched as his expression became unreadable when a shadow had engulfed his face. All went quiet as Kyuubi waited for the boy's reaction, however Naruto's reaction was that of not which he expected.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! YOU'RE THE REASON MY LIFE IS SUCH A FUCKING MESS! THAT"S WHY I FEEL…" Kyuubi watched in amazement as the young boy began to go through a long line of insults in a rather colorful manner. After a few more minutes of the angry speech, Kyuubi decided it was best to cut him off.

"**Alright, I get it. Now would you please cool down, unless you want to continue this rant for eternity."** Naruto sent the fox a heated glare, but the fox stood passively. **"Good, now in return for my burden on you, I will allow you to call upon my chakra when I feel it is necessary. For you see, if you die, I will die. I have no intentions of dieing, so I will help you out when it comes to the matter of my well-being. Now that that's cleared up, you should wake up right now. If you have any questions ask your sensei, he's known all along."**

When Kyuubi finished speaking, Naruto blinked and found himself in the woods. Naruto sat up and went to talk to his sensei about his experience.

_FLASHBACK END_

'_Alright, now where to?'_ He continued walking through the streets of Konoha, until an enticing scent filled his nostrils.

He sniffed once…twice…

Those that were glaring at him saw him sniffing the air and immediately wondered what he was doing. The blonde began to walk in a different direction, following scent that filled the air.

Ayame sighed they haven't had any customers and they were due to go out of business any day now. It was then that she noticed a blonde boy walking towards their stand. Teuchi saw her and looked in the same direction. Sure enough, Naruto came to a halt before the ramen bar.

The two stared at the blonde, in astonishment, as he now sat across the counter.

"I haven't been here in a long while. I sure have missed this place," Naruto said, a reminiscing smile playing across his face.

He remembered when he was little, that this place was his only sanctuary. It was the only place that didn't kick him out, or raise their prices ridiculously high. Teuchi and Ayame were always kind and cheerful towards him, and for that he was grateful.

Teuchi looked at him curiously, then he saw his whisker marked cheeks, and knew immediately who he was. He held no anger against the boy he could plainly see that he was innocent, unlike many other ignorant people. He believed in the Yondiame's abilities, having total confidence in the previous Hokage. He saw the boy as a hero, like he was supposed to be viewed.

"This place has indeed been quiet since you left Naruto, I'm very glad to see your back healthy and well." Teuchi said, a caring smile directed at the young blonde. Ayame gave him a cheerful smile to, agreeing with Teuchi.

Naruto ordered a bowl of ramen, and the two began to prepare it. Naruto talked to them as he the food was being prepared, telling him where he's been and what he has been doing. He left out the training he did with Jiraiya and gave them a very broad explanation. They were happy nonetheless, and handed him his bowl of miso ramen.

"Itadakimasu." Naruto said breaking apart his chopsticks, and devouring the bowl of ramen in seconds.

Teuchi and Ayame smiled cheerily, seeing that life has been brought back to the quiet ramen stand. Naruto asked for a second bowl and Teuchi chuckled heartily.

"I see that your appetite hasn't decreased in the years! A good thing for us, because we were going to close down shop, due to the lack of profit and customers."

Naruto gulped down the ramen present in his mouth before speaking, "How could you get no customers with the good ramen you make?"

Teuchi smiled, "Don't worry! Now that your back, I foresee a better business."

Naruto nodded and grinned asking for a third bowl, handing Ayame his second.

* * *

Naruto started to regret eating seven bowls of ramen, when his stomach began to send him painful aches. He cringed slightly, as he walked to his old apartment. He wondered if it would even be in a livable condition. He sighed, he knew what to expect from the citizens of Konoha.

He reached his room, unlocking it with the set of keys given to him by the Sandiame, but not before noticing the insults spray-painted on his door. He ignored them as he walked in, shutting the door, and flicking on the lights. To his horror the furniture was upturned and thrown against the wall, some things were broken and smashed, and more threats were present on the walls and floors. The threats were usually the same like 'die demon', 'evil incarnate', or 'cold-blooded murderer'. At first the threats made him depressed, scared, and confused, but now he thought nothing of it. He wasn't going to get all depressed, because he knew that it wouldn't change anything.

He knew the quickest way to solve his current predicament, so he began the hand seals, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Five shadow clones puffed into existence, crowding the rather small apartment.

Jiraiya had taught him the kinjutsu because he felt that it would help with his training, alongside with a few other forbidden techniques. The clones were solid, unlike the regular academy taught 'bunshin'. These 'kage bunshin' had their own chakra system, allowing them to use jutsu, however their chakra supply was rather limited. Jiraiya also told him when they were destroyed the memories of their small life span were transferred directly to him. Jiraiya warned that too much information would put strain on his mind, and may knock him unconscious. Naruto listened to his advice, but would do it occasionally anyway. He would create many shadow clones, practice something, destroy them when depleted of chakra, absorb the information, and then fall unconscious. When Jiraiya scolded him several times, he made sure not to do it too often.

The five shadow clones set to work, cleaning, sweeping, and throwing away what was broken beyond repair. The real Naruto walked to his room dodging one of his clones that was carrying a battered and broken chair. He entered, the clones still busy in the living room/kitchen, and began to look at the damage.

His bed was placed on its side against the wall, and the spring mattress was stabbed and laid completely useless in the center of the room. His clothing that were previously hung in his closet, were now burned to ashes, not that he wanted the clothing anyway, he had actually grown in the past four years to a height of 4'10. How did he grow? Jiraiya simply took away his all ramen diet, making him eat properly during their trip.

Naruto began to clean his room, when he noticed a face down picture frame with tiny glass shards surrounding it in the corner of his eye. Naruto instantly stopped what he was doing and ran toward the said object, but careful as to not step on the glass. He kneeled down and carefully picked it up, turning it over to reveal the picture.

The picture was of the Yondiame Hokage, Naruto's biggest role model. The Yondiame may be the one that had caused him to suffer so much, but he was the one to sacrifice himself and Naruto for the sake of the village. Jiraiya told Naruto that he was the Yondiame's sensei, and Naruto was like him in some ways. When Naruto learned about the Kyuubi, he couldn't help but be angry with the great Hokage. I mean, he was the one that partly caused his suffering. Eventually he decided that the Yondiame had no other choice at the time, and began to idolize him again.

'_I wonder what you would do in my situation…'_

Naruto took out the picture and put it on the desk that was still left intact in his room. A clone walked in and began to sweep up the shattered glass, as the real Naruto stood out of it's way.

Naruto walked back into his living room, noticing that the clones were just finishing up and had begun to clean bedroom and bathroom. Naruto casually plopped down on the couch and pulled out a small scroll from his pants pocket. He unrolled it, and without looking at it's contents, bit his thumb and ran a trail of blood down the center of the text. Instantly a brush, a small container of black paint, and a notebook appeared in his hands.

He walked over to his door, setting the notebook down and the container of paint. He opened the plastic container, and dripped several drops of his blood in the ink. He then dipped his brush in it's contents. With his other hand he flipped through his notebook until it reached a certain page. He looked at his personal notes and began to paint a seal on the door.

The notebook held his seal designs and notes on each one. Studying and analyzing seals were more of a personal hobby of his, rather then something he was taught. Jiraiya never learned of Naruto's hobby, because he usually did it in secret. He was no seal master, but he could do some fairly complicated seals. He created several original seals through trial and error. He had to do it in a large area because sometimes they backfired, sometimes quite…harmfully.

He finished the seal on the door, when it was completed it vanished. Naruto sat up and began to paint the same seal on his windows. The seal that he was writing was one he created himself, a fairly basic seal. The seal would simply alert him when a person touched, or went near the seal. It would alert him the same way a 'kage bunshin' would when it disappeared. The information would simply be sent to his mind, because his blood was used in the creation of the seal. He also made so that it would explode on the intruder.

Once he finished securing his apartment, he laid back down on the couch. The shadow clones finished cleaning and repairing what they could and vanished. Naruto began to fall asleep on the couch, because his bed no longer had a mattress. He thought about the Sandiame's test, but eventually gave in to the long awaited rest.

* * *

(Hokage's office the next morning)

The Sandiame interlaced his fingers as he stared at a silver-haired jounin, who leaned against the wall in a lazy manner.

"So you are the one I chose to hold the test for him, just make sure not to underestimate him." The Sandiame cautioned the jounin, who gave nothing but a respectful nod. With that the jounin 'shushined' out of the room, with an audible poof.

The Sandiame turned his head towards the open window in his office, as a white-haired man entered via the window. "I see you finally decided to come visit." The Sandiame watched as the sennin casually walked to the center of the office.

"I bring some more information on the Akatsuki, as well as Oto, and Suna." Jiraiya said sternly, making the Hokage curious.

"Suna and Oto, you say?"

Jiraiya nodded, "I heard from my information network, that Suna and Oto have been having 'talks' concerning our village. These secret meetings have been about the Chunin Exams being held in our village soon, I fear a secret alliance has been formed between the two."

The Hokage nodded, "I will look into that right away, now what about Akatsuki?"

"It seems they are coming out of the dark, and revealing themselves. Their goal has something to do with the tailed beasts, as it seems the four-tailed jinchuuriki has been reported missing after being seen with two people dressed in cloaks with red clouds."

"This does not fare well at all. We will have to continue on watching their actions carefully." The Sandiame concluded, a brief silence was held for but a second. "Jiraiya what have you to report about Naruto?"

"Let's see we mostly stayed in Hi no Kuni (Fire country), but we traveled to Kaminari no Kuni (Lightning country) for some training, as well as Mizu no Kuni (Water country). Although Naruto may be only eleven, be sure not to underestimate him, because I feel you will be fairly impressed with Naruto's improvement. He was slow at learning at first, but after about a year he began to improve considerably well." Jiraiya explained, finishing with a proud smile.

"I see…what rank do you believe he is at?" The Sandiame asked with curiosity laced into his voice of authority.

"I would say..." Jiraiya closed his mouth and smiled mischievously at his previous sensei. "You know what? You will just have to wait and see at his test."

The Sandiame sighed, "Alright, have it your way, your dismissed." Jiraiya left through the window, as the Sandiame shuffled through some papers on his desk.

"Izumo," At the Hokage's call a chunin 'shushined' into the office.

"Hai, Hokage-sama?"

"Inform Naruto to be at training field twenty-one for his test today at 2:00PM."

"Hai." The chunin poofed out of the office, as the Sandiame went back to signing papers. _'This test will definitely be an interesting one, but why do I have the feeling that it will increase my paperwork?'_ The Sandiame shrugged off the ominous feeling and continued his paperwork.

* * *

CrimsonCat101: Finally! Action in the next chapter! Hooray! 


	4. The Test

CrimsonCat101: Finally! I finished this chapter. I've been working really hard to get this out as quick as I could for my faithful reviewers. This time I'm not demanding reviews, but this does not mean to stop reviewing. I love to read reviews, and it makes me motivate to update sooner.

**Review replies and news are posted in my profile! Take a look!**

A Different Reality

-The Test-

Naruto awoke from his sleep, and tiredly walked to his kitchen. He opened the small fridge only to see nothing in it. He groaned, he had forgotten to buy more food after his apartment was torn apart by some unknown intruder. Grumbling he shut the fridge door and walked to the bathroom to wash up. He took a shower, brushed his teeth, and _somewhat_ brushed his hair. He walked out of his bathroom, in a towel, and over to his bedroom.

He got dressed into his black sleeveless top, black pants, and dark shinobi sandals. After doing so, he threw the crimson trench coat over his top to finish. After getting dressed he walked into the small living room and grabbed his frog wallet, before walking out the door to do the most dreadful thing he could think of at the moment.

Shopping.

He walked to the marketplace near the center of town, and got to work. Before he even did any shopping, he used a simple henge to change his appearance to that of any ordinary civilian. Now that his cover was finished he set to work by stopping by the grocery store first.

He grabbed some fruits and vegetables, in order to keep his more balanced diet. After he finished there, he went through several other stores to replace the things that were destroyed in his apartment. To transport the many objects, he simply sealed them in a scroll, which made him happily walk home with only a light paper scroll in his right hand.

He dropped the henge after he left the marketplace, and that's when the message of an intruder reached his mind.

He speedily raced to his apartment, only to find that his door was quite scorched along with part of the wall.

Naruto carefully unlocked the door and walked in. He immediately began to search for the intruder by searching his living room, bathroom, and bedroom. After reaching the conclusion that the intruder was scared off, he smirked. The seal he used as security was a success.

He happily opened the scroll from his shopping trip and began to put away the food and belongings before sitting comfortably on his brand new couch. He sat there for a moment in thought, before walking over to his new small wooden desk. He opened his notebook and began to study the seals he had created, and sketched some new possible seals he would have to test out later. He ate an apple as a late breakfast, as he studied the seals.

* * *

The Sandiame sat at his desk, leisurely leaning back against his chair and puffing on the pipe in his mouth. He looked at the clock in his office that now read 11:00AM. 

He was about to get to work on today's paperwork, but was stopped by the 'poof' of someone entering his office through shushin.

To say the chunin that stood before him was a mess, would be a huge understatement.

The chunin's clothing was tattered and scorched, and he smelled of…gunpowder?

"Izumo, what happened?" Sarutobi demanded, looking at the ragged form before him.

Izumo scowled as he retold the story. "Hokage-sama, I set out to do the task you gave me, to inform Naruto of your order. I arrived at his apartment and proceeded to knock on his door. When no one had answered I _touched_ his doorknob, and the thing exploded! After that I fled here to inform you."

The Sandiame sighed heavily, "Alright, I will go myself. I wanted to get out of this stuffy office anyway, you are dismissed Izumo. Though I suggest you visit the Konoha hospital before you do anything else." The chunin nodded and left in a puff a smoke, leaving the Hokage in his office.

Sarutobi put on his Hokage hat and walked out of his office, on his way to see Naruto.

* * *

Naruto was studying his seals when he heard a knock on the door. He casually approached his door and opened it. 

"Oh! Old man what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, standing in his doorway and looking at the Hokage who stood before him with a smile on his face.

"Hello Naruto, I'm here to inform to be at training field twenty-one for your test today at 2:00PM." The Sandiame smiled, while Naruto looked at him in confusion.

"Shouldn't you send some type of messenger for that or something?"

"I'm afraid I did Naruto, but he was somehow…blown up in the process."

Naruto sheepishly grinned, while rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "Sorry about that."

The Sandiame smiled again, "Ah, it is quite alright. May I come in?" Naruto stood away from the doorway and gestured for the Hokage to enter.

The seal that protected him from intruders would not go off as long as he was in the apartment himself. Naruto plopped himself on his couch, while Sarutobi continued to stand.

"Naruto, I would like to know how you blew up my messenger." The Hokage asked. He added mentally, '_Even if it did save me from paperwork."_

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "I kind of set up a…security system, to stop any more intruders from barging into my house."

Sarutobi nodded in acceptance, as he observed Naruto's small apartment. Although he was curious, he knew that Naruto did not want to evaluate further, so he changed the topic.

"How do you feel about being back in Konoha?" The Sandiame questioned.

Naruto paused, startled by such an abrupt change in the topic and sighed heavily, "I'm not sure…I haven't been here long enough, but…what I do know is, that those hateful glares won't go away on their own, even after all these years…"

Sarutobi was shocked to hear Naruto's voice sound so…old. The kid was only eleven, yet he sounded that he was much older then that. Sarutobi knew that Naruto had lost his childhood way too early in his life. So much pain was reflected in his cerulean eyes, that he had to look away.

"Naruto don't give up just yet-"

"You don't have to tell me that, anyway, who is my opponent for my test today?" Naruto interrupted changing the subject once more.

Sarutobi chuckled lightly, "Ah, curious now aren't we? Well, he is one of our finest jounin, his name Hatake Kakashi and he will be the one to test you."

Naruto stayed silent for but a moment, "I see…Thank you. Will you be taking your leave now?" Naruto asked, amusement clearly defined in his tone of his voice.

The Sandiame wondered what he found so amusing about the jounin's name, but took his leave. "Goodbye Naruto, I wish you luck on your test."

Naruto watched as the Hokage left, and turned back to his desk. He sat down on a chair and looked back at his notes.

"Great, I have two hours to make a new seal." Naruto grumbled to no one in particular.

* * *

Kurenai, Asuma, and Genma waited patiently on training field twenty-one. It was 2:00PM now and Kakashi and the one to be tested were nowhere in sight. They stood in an uncomfortable silence until Genma spoke. 

"You know we are probably going to be waiting here for another three hours for Kakashi to show up." Genma turned his gaze to Asuma who had his eyes set on the clouds in the horizon.

"Nah, we made sure to tell him to come here at 12:00PM, so he should be here any minute now."

Just as Asuma finished speaking, Kakashi arrived in a swirl of leaves.

"Yo." He chirped, giving a friendly wave to the examiners of the test. Kakashi looked at them, and then looked around the area. After thoroughly observing his surroundings he looked back at the three. "Where's Naruto?"

Kurenai was the one to reply, "Is that the one being tested? Well actually, he hasn't arrived yet."

Kakashi's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, '_this kid broke my late record!?!?' _Unknowing that Naruto was told to come three hours after him.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, a kid with blonde hair, blue eyes, and whisker-marked cheeks entered the grounds. He stood in front of the examiners and his tester, grinning sheepishly. "I'm sorry I'm late, I had something important to get done." Naruto said guiltily, feeling a bit nervous in front of the four.

Kurenai waved him off and smiled, "As long as your not three hours late, and making lame excuses, it is overlooked." Kakashi felt a heated glare directed at him, but kept his nose in his little orange book in attempt of ignoring it.

Naruto noticed the spike in killer intent and looked at where it was directed. A spiky silver-haired jounin was the target of the women's glare. Naruto recognized him as Kakashi, especially when he saw the Hitai-ate that covered his left eye. The lower half of his face was also hidden from view by a thin mask. This only made Naruto curious as to what he was hiding.

It was then that Naruto noticed the orange book in his hands, making his left eyebrow visibly twitch. _'Great, I'm fighting one of ero-sennin's perverted book fans.'_ Before anyone could say anything Naruto walked to the middle of the opening. "Well? Let's get this over with, shall we?"

The porno lover looked at the three examiners before appearing in the middle of the field in a swirl of leaves, the book still held in front of his face. Naruto stared at him for a minute before asking, "Are you going to put that book away?"

The silver-haired jounin kept his eyes on the text as he replied, "No, I'm at a good part in the story, and I can fight just fine with it out."

'_Boy is he going to regret underestimating me.' _Naruto thought. The examiners watched as Naruto shrugged and said, "Your decision."

When that was said Kakashi suddenly heard a whirring sound behind him, he dodged the surprise attack as quickly as he could, getting to two small cuts on his shoulder as a reward. After narrowly dodging the kunai he looked at Naruto who stood before him, and watched as he disappeared in a plume of smoke.

'_Kage Bunshin?_' Kakashi thought, pocketing his beloved book, after realizing that he couldn't read it in this fight.

Kakashi took out a kunai and held it in his right hand in a defensive stance, awaiting his opponent's next move.

Naruto watched Kakashi as he planned his next course of action, hidden in the branches of a tree. After deciding on a strategy he set to work. After creating several shadow clones, telling them the course of action, and watching them dash off through the trees, he prepared a jutsu.

Naruto flew through several hand seals, before softly whispering, "Suiton: Ooarashi no Jutsu (Water Style: Hurricane Technique)" Two small hurricanes formed, one in each hand, hovering approximately one inch over both palms. He took the hurricane in his right hand and brought it over his left. He began sliding his right hurricane over the left in a rapid fluid motion. Highly concentrated water discs shot of the end in quick succession.

Kakashi was on high alert when he saw the water discs rapidly approaching him. The discs were fast and there were many of them.

The silver-haired jounin dodged each one in a graceful manner, but the last few caught him off guard. Unlike the previous ones, these were slightly faster, making him miscalculate when to dodge. He was nicked by a few on his legs and arms. The discs were as sharp as the ordinary kunai, with so many of them…it was quite a formidable attack. The last disc came into view and what shocked Kakashi was that, this disc was as large as a _fuma shuriken_.

Naruto watched as his part of the plan finished. He leaned back against the bark of the tree, in order to get a quick breather. That last jutsu took quite a bit of charka, since he pulled the water necessary for the move out of the air. After breathing for but a moment, he took off again in order to change his location. After that attack, Kakashi was bound to know his where he was hiding.

The shadow clones on the opposite side of the original Naruto began their part of the plan, as several went through hand seals. After finishing the necessary hand seals the head _kage bunshin_ muttered under his breath "Katon: Koosoku no Jutsu (Fire Style: Flaming Wheel Technique)

Kakashi was unable to dodge the large water disc so easily, so he jumped over it. The disc continued on its way, and cut almost half-way through a tree, before exploding back to many water droplets.

While Kakashi was still in the airborne, he caught the sight of something quickly approaching him from behind. Before he could even react his back was burned by some fire technique.

Kakashi landed on his feet, stopping himself from skidding any farther by using his left hand. The left side of his back was burned by the last attack.

From a distance of the battle, Asuma whistled, impressed by the young blonde. "Wow, the kid's kicking Kakashi's butt."

"I'm enjoying this, it's about time Kakashi's karma kicked in." Kurenai added.

Genma looked at the two, and then back at the battle, "Yeah, but you know the kid got an advantage over him when Kakashi underestimated him. Now he's going to get serious."

"Hai, but he took advantage of that weakness, and that gives him points in my book." Kurenai smiled, turning her gaze back to the battle.

Kakashi's breathing was heavier as he warily watched his surroundings. It was then that many shuriken were thrown at him from both sides.

Naruto watched from a distance as the projectiles his clones threw approached their intended mark.

The shuriken hit the copy-nin directly, embedding themselves in his arms. Before Naruto could celebrate, the target was replaced by a log with the many shuriken still lodged in it.

'_Shit, kawarimi_! Where is he?' Naruto thought, sitting on the branch of a tree and frantically searching his surroundings.

It was then that he felt a punch land solidly against his cheek. Naruto was thrown out of hiding and into the clearing, where Kakashi slowly approached.

"You're not bad." Kakashi remarked, still feeling pain from the wounds inflicted on him.

"I could say the same myself." Naruto said, taking a taijutsu stance that Kakashi did not recognize.

Kakashi lifted his Hitai-ate, to reveal the infamous Sharingan, "I think it's time I got serious."

Naruto smirked, "It's about time."

The two charged at each other, exchanging blows from one another. Both of their attacks were swift and quick, both showed no signs of backing down.

After a full minute the two jumped away from each other to breathe. It was then that Kakashi gave the blonde a confused look.

"What did you do to my Sharingan?"

The examiners looked at the copy-nin and Naruto with curiosity and interest.

"What you mean?" Naruto said innocently, still holding his fighting position. He was jumping in joy inside that his new seal's first trial run was a success, but he didn't show that.

"I mean, I can't memorize your moves. Usually the Sharingan allows me to memorize your moves and store them for my own personal usage, but right now I can't seem to even recall anything. I can't even see where your attacks will land beforehand, and the memorizing part of it is not working. What did you do?" Kakashi asked, uncharacteristically serious in his tone of voice.

Naruto held his emotionless mask as he said, "Why should I say? You're my opponent at the moment aren't you?"

Genma looked at the other two examiners of the fight, "How did he do that?"

"Beats me." Asuma replied, looking at Kurenai expectantly, awaiting to hear her opinion on the manner.

"Well, whatever he did he's not telling his opponent. He's smart about withholding what he did in battle, instead of telling his opponent exactly what he did. If he did, his opponent would know more about the situation and form a plan to override his. Usually a person would gloat about their actions, stand there, and tell their opponent exactly what they did. This action then leads to their inevitable downfall." Kurenai said her gaze still locked on the two combatants.

Asuma turned his gaze from the red-eyed beauty and back to the match, "Smart kid."

Genma nodded silently in agreement, while fiddling with the senbon on the side of his mouth.

Naruto faced the jounin, but then turned his gaze to the examiners, still keeping his guard up. "I have a question! Should I take off my weights?" Naruto yelled across the field, making the examiners look at him in shock, as well as Kakashi.

Genma was the one to answer, "Hai, we want to see you at your full potential so that we may rank you accordingly. How come you didn't ask this before we started?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "I kinda forgot about them."

The group sweat-dropped at the remark, but regained focus shortly after.

Naruto bit his thumb, flashed through some hand seals, and then touched the tiny red seals on both of his ankles and arms. The tiny red seals were created by Jiraiya, because they were more efficient then regular weights. One, they were easy to enable and disable. Two, it didn't show his opponent how much weight he was carrying. And three, it wouldn't have a limit to how much weight he could carry.

They watched as he quickly finished, and looked at him.

"Resourceful," Asuma commented, "I like it." The other two nodded in agreement.

Naruto got back into his fighting stance, "Let's continue."

Naruto disappeared before Kakashi's eyes, too quick to track. Naruto delivered a swift kick to Kakashi's waist, and watched as he skidded across the hard earth. Naruto quickly charged towards him, but the copy-nin vanished in a puff of smoke.

'_Kage Bunshin? When did he-'_ Naruto cut off his own thoughts as he searched for his opponent. _'Behind, above…BELOW!'_ At that moment instinct kicked in, and he quickly flashed through some handseals.

"Raiton: Tsuchi Denryuu no Jutsu (Lightning Style: Ground Current Technique)" Naruto's palm began to form an electrical current, as it was quickly thrust down upon the earth.

At that second, a very angry silver-haired jounin popped out of the ground, a meter away from Naruto. Naruto smirked as he saw Kakashi's fingers twitch from the electrical shock. The last move cost yet more charka, so he decided it would be best to go into taijutsu, in order to give his charka reserves some time to recuperate.

Before Naruto realized what was happening Kakashi charged at him, and threw a kick to the blonde's head. It hit its intended mark, throwing Naruto across the field.

Naruto groggily got up, shaking his head to rid of the receding pain. Kakashi took advantage of his momentary recovery, and charged forward.

Naruto just got back on his feet when he saw Kakashi's attempt to kick him again on the side of his head. This time he didn't allow it, and caught the kick while pushing it away. This action threw Kakashi off balance, allowing Naruto to kick him below his chin, sending him skyrocketing into the air. Kakashi then flipped over using one hand, to regain his footing.

The two stared at each other, both of their breathing labored from exhaustion.

Kakashi looked at the blond in thought. _'This kid…I can barely keep up with him, even with my Sharingan.'_

'_I have to finish this!' _Naruto thought as he charged once more toward the jounin, drawing a kunai in the process. He added charka to his feet in order to quicken his pace as he moved behind Kakashi. Gripping the kunai in hand, Naruto attempted to punch Kakashi's face, but was stopped by the jounin's palm. Kakashi then countered by delivering a kick to his waist. Naruto continued the assault nonetheless, by prodding Kakashi at his shoulder.

'_What is this?'_ Kakashi thought in horror, as he was unable to move his body. As the silver-haired jounin struggled in futile, he suddenly felt the presence of cold metal against his throat.

"This is over, I win." Naruto said, as he withdrew his kunai and backed away from the startled jounin.

Kurenai, Asuma, and Genma approached the two, Asuma walked over to Kakashi as the other two strolled over to Naruto.

"The kid is tough, isn't he?" Asuma chuckled, as he watched Kakashi pull his Hitai-ate back over his eye.

"That he is, he is defiantly strong for such an age." Kakashi watched Naruto as he chatted with the two examiners.

"Want me to carry you to the hospital?"

"That would be greatly appreciated." Kakashi said, as he promptly fell over and was caught by Asuma as he threw him over his back, piggyback style.

Asuma was about to take off when Kakashi interrupted. "Hey hold on, let me talk to Naruto first." Asuma complied and walked over to Naruto.

Genma and Kurenai left after telling Naruto to visit the Hokage the next day to learn of his results and also giving him his Hitai-ate. Naruto had tied the Hitai-ate around his neck proudly, before seeing the two jounins leave.

"Hey Naruto."

Naruto turned around to face Asuma, and Kakashi who was looking at him from the smoking jounin's back. "Yeah?"

"How did you immobilize me for that brief second during the fight? Also how did you do that to my Sharingon?"

"For the immobilizing thing, all I did was simply send some electricity through your nervous system to paralyze you momentarily when I prodded your shoulder. As for the Sharingan…that's my little secret." Naruto grinned, at the two.

"I see…" Kakashi said, as he thought about what Naruto had just told him.

"Hey Kakashi, why are you being carried by Asuma?"

"Well, I kinda overused the Sharingon during the fight, and now can't move my body due to charka exhaustion." Kakashi simply stated, making Naruto nod in understanding.

After that Asuma took Kakashi to the Konoha hospital, as Naruto began heading home.

Naruto looked at both of his wrists where two red seals were placed on. _'Well, at least I found out this seal works well against the Sharingan.'_ He was quite satisfied with the fight. Kakashi was a strong opponent, as he now walked exhaustingly to his bed.

He thought over the fight, replaying it over and over again until he finally succumbed to sleep.

* * *

CrimsonCat101: All right please review and tell me what you thought about the fight. This was the first fight scene I've written so please tell me what you thought 

**Remember check my profile for review replies and news on updates and stuff!**


	5. Mission Assignment

CrimsonCat101: Here is my chapter, and it's even longer then the last! I might update DBNL next...but I'm not sure...depends. I got a BETA for this story Hooray! I like my BETA, he's shown me he's good with critcism no doubt about...he's also nice :) I hope you enjoy and REVIEW! Also I fixed spelling in this chapter like Sandaime, Shunshin, and of course Sharingan.

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto, not me.

A Different Reality

-Mission Assignment-

Kurenai, Asuma, and Genma now stood, lined up before the Hokage. It was an hour after the test had finished. Asuma had already delivered Kakashi to the hospital, after the battle with Naruto.

Kakashi's burn mark on his back could be healed effortlessly with the help of the medic nins at the hospital. It would heal well enough that one would not notice he had been burned there before, without intense searching. He was also suffering from minor charka exhaustion, but it was nothing serious, he would recover from it completely within an hour.

They stood now before the Hokage to report Naruto's test results, to determine his rank and status as a shinobi of the Leaf. The Hokage sat at his office desk, a pile of paperwork lay at his side.

The Sandaime stared at the three that stood before him, "So…What do you have to report?"

The three stood still, until Genma stepped forward. "Hokage-sama, from our observations we determined that his ninjutsu is high, taijutsu is average, and his genjutsu abilities are unknown. His ninjutsu has a wide variety, from what we have observed. He is level headed when he is fighting, and is careful with withholding information. He can strategize a fairly built tactic in battle that allows him to overwhelm his opponent, thus allowing him to defeat an enemy effectively. Though this is important, there was something that happened during the battle that raised our attention."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at the last statement, "What might that be?"

Asuma was the one to step forward this time, staring intently at the Hokage. "It appears he was able to stop the Sharingan from copying his techniques."

The Sandaime's eyes widened, but he quickly regained his serious expression. "How did he do that?"

Asuma shook his head while sighing, "We're not sure, he wouldn't tell us, but by the way he talked about it, he seems to know."

Sarutobi nodded, "I will have to confront him about that later. Now what rank do you believe he is at?"

Kurenai was the first to speak, "Honestly, I believe him to be at a jounin rank. The only thing is we don't know how well he can lead a mission. This is a necessary ability for all jounin's to have."

Genma continued, "I also believe Naruto to be of jounin rank. The thing is he also won't have the raw experience other jounin's have, regarding missions, teamwork, and other things of the like."

Asuma was next, his cigarette pushed to the side of his mouth in order to speak. "I also believe Naruto has the potential to be of the jounin rank. The thing is we simply don't know enough about him."

The Hokage closed his eyes in silent contemplation, interlacing his fingers as well. The three watched him intently, awaiting his answer.

The Sandaime sighed heavily, before refocusing his gaze on the three, "I have come to the decision to promote Naruto to chunin rank however…I will assign him an A-ranked mission to learn of his leading capabilities. The ones to accompany him will be…"

Locking his gaze between the red-eyed, black haired, jounin and the smoking jounin the Sandaime continued, "Kurenai, Kakashi, and Asuma…any questions?"

"So you're saying this eleven year old boy, we don't know much about, is going to be my squad leader in a A-ranked mission?" Kurenai asked, bewilderment etched into her voice, which the Sandaime confirmed with a simple nod of his head.

"Yo." A familiar voice chirped from the window of the office.

The Hokage acknowledged his presence, "Kakashi, I see that you were released from the hospital…"

"Hai," The silver-haired jounin answered, "I wasn't that badly wounded. I know for a fact that I underestimated him-"

"Which I remember warning you about." The Sandaime chuckled, making the jounin's ego slightly suffer.

"Hai but, Naruto, if I so remember correctly is the Kyuubi container, is he not?" Kakashi asked casually, as though he were talking about the weather. Kurenai, Genma, and Asuma, visibly tensed however.

"Hai, does that information bother you?" The Sandaime asked, not only Kakashi, but the others as well.

None of them spoke.

The Sandaime smiled when no one answered his question, "Good, Naruto has a _very_ tough life, and I would appreciate it if you didn't make it any harder. Just remember this, his smile may fool you, but inside he is hurting in a way that would drive anyone insane. I just wonder how he stays as sane as he is."

"Now, Kakashi," The Hokage spoke, "You and Kurenai are going to be assigned an A-ranked mission, with Naruto as your squad leader-"

"But Hokage-sama-" Kakashi interjected.

"Let me finish, Hatake-san," The Hokage said, as if we was expecting to be interrupted, "This mission assignment is going to evaluate Naruto's rank further. I will brief you, Kurenai, Asuma, and Naruto in the mission room, regarding your assignment tomorrow. You are all dismissed, expect you Kakashi, I need to speak with you."

Genma, Asuma, and Kurenai, all departed in a cloud of smoke, through 'shunshin'. Kakashi stood in place, as the Hokage stared at him with the authority one given the title of Hokage should present.

"Kakashi, I understand from the others' reports of the fight, that Naruto has the ability to disable a part of the Sharingan eye." The Sandaime said firmly, his eyes un-lingering from the jounin present before him.

"Hai that is certain. He disabled the part of the Sharingan which allows me to copy ones techniques and I could of sworn something else seemed off as well."

"Does it still function properly now?" The Hokage asked. Kakashi nodded his head in a silent affirmative, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I made sure it still worked before leaving the hospital. I used it to memorize my medical report on the side of my bed. Sure enough it's fully functional now." The Sharingan user explained.

The Sandiame fell silent as he thought over the information he had just received. After jostling with the info in his head, he brought his attention back to Kakashi.

"I need you to inform Naruto that I need him in my office within the hour."

Kakashi nodded, and was about to leave via the window when the Sandaime spoke again, "Wait."

Kakashi stopped half-way through the window, "Hm?"

Sarutobi chuckled as he spoke, "I advise you not to break entry into Naruto's apartment, if he is not there. We had a very unfortunate incident with my last messenger when he tried to open the door."

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow in interest, but then nodded and left.

Sarutobi leaned back against his chair, and put his infamous pipe in his mouth. He relaxed in his chair, thinking over today's events when a woman walked in, with her face hidden behind an 'oh so terrible'…stack of papers.

The Hokage shuddered when the women dropped the giant stack of papers atop his desk, ordering him to get it done. She then left the office to a very depressed looking Hokage, who was only thinking about his retirement at the moment.

* * *

Naruto had just woken up from his short nap, and walked into the living room. He took the small scroll from his pocket, and bit his thumb at the same time. Opening it, he drew the blood from his thumb to streak the scroll words from top to bottom. A small puff of smoke was created, and with it Naruto's notebook, brush, and paint. He set the brush and paint on his desk, because he had no need for them at the moment.

He grabbed a pencil from his desk, and sat on his couch. He flipped through many pages of seals and their details, until he reached the one on his wrists. It showed a sketch of the seal along with labels and descriptions. He wrote down that its first trial run was a success. He made sure that the ones on his wrists were an identical match to the sketch in his notes, before wiping the seals off his wrists.

He then began to sketch ideas for new seals. It was during his seal studying that he was interrupted by the knocking on his door. Naruto grudgingly sat up, and walked over to the door and opened it.

Standing before him was none other then Hatake Kakashi.

Naruto looked at him tiredly, showing that he didn't exactly want to be bothered. "What do you want?"

Kakashi ignored his signs of rudeness and continued speaking in his familiar drawl. "Hokage-sama requests that you come to his office."

"Again?" Naruto asked in an annoyed manner. He wasn't to keen on getting all these orders, with little to no rest in between.

"Hai. Now if would excuse me, I have some important literature to get to." With that said and done the porno lover disappeared in a puff of smoke.

'_What is this world coming to?'_ Naruto thought, as he locked his door and began walking to the Hokage's office.

After walking some distance through the streets, he began to feel discomforted by the glares and took to the rooftops. On the rooftops he decided to go at a faster pace, and became a blur to civilian eyes. He reached the Hokage tower in a manner of a few minutes, and walked right past the chunin guards at the base of the building. He walked up the wooden steps, and down a hallway, finally spotting a door being guarded by two chunin.

The one on the left side of the door was apparently the supposed 'messenger' that he had accidentally blown up, because an angry scowl was directed at him. The chunin beside him had spiky hair, and strip of wrapping across the middle of his face. This chunin's facial expression just showed obvious amusement towards himself and his partner.

The spiky-haired chunin on the right was the one to speak to the blonde ninja. "Are you Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly as the glare from the left chunin worsened. "That I am."

"One moment please, the Hokage is in a short meeting with an important figurehead and it should be over any minute now."

"I can wait," Naruto turned his attention to the chunin on the left side of the door, "Uh, sorry about the explosion thing, it was just a matter of personal security. No hard feelings, right?"

The chunin looked at him sternly, before breaking into a warm smile. "No hard feelings, I can tell that it was an accident, though I assure you I won't be testing your security any time soon."

"Heh, heh," Naruto grinned sheepishly, "Yeah sorry about that, anyway may I know the name to which I have the pleasure of speaking to?"

"Well put," The chunin remarked impressively.

"I try." Naruto smirked.

"My name's Izumo, and my partner next to me is Kotetsu." Izumo said, while gesturing his hand in his partner's direction when introduced. Naruto gave a friendly grin at the two, when the door opened between the them revealing a tall man. His eyes were the pupil-less, pale lavender eyes of a Hyuuga. Naruto recognized him from his childhood as Hyuuga Haishi. From the way he gave Naruto a displeasing frown, it was safe to say he was still had a stick lodged up his ass, a thick one at that.

The group stayed silent until Haishi was out of sight. "Well," Kotetsu spoke up, "I guess you can see the Hokage now."

"Thanks, it was a pleasure meeting you both." Naruto said, as he walked between them and stepped inside the Hokage's office.

Naruto took a quick glance around the office, but it was odd to say he didn't see the Sandaime.

"Hey old man!" Naruto called in a rather loud manner.

"Over here," Was the reply Naruto got from a voice concealed behind the mounds of paperwork, stacked atop the Hokage's desk.

Naruto casually walked towards him, "Heh, didn't see you there for a moment," he said rather sheepishly.

The Hokage sighed, "Well, paperwork is over flooding me today, it can be cruel like that at times."

"At times? Isn't it always cruel?"

"True, true. Anyway down to business since it appears I do not have much time to talk with all this unfinished paperwork to do."

"I was wondering why you would bother me so soon." Naruto said rather tiredly, he was hungry to. He hadn't the time to eat lunch, and it was now around dinner time.

"Yes well, I was hoping you would explain how you accomplished to disable part of Kakashi's Sharingan during the match. It is important that you answer my question honestly." From the look Naruto was given, he could safely say that he wanted the answer to his question.

"Um, well basically I created a seal of my own creation. It is designed to not disable the Sharingan, but fool it. The Sharingan, from what I know, memorizes the opponent's moves, by not memorizing the moves themselves, but rather the chakra patterns. Chakra patterns are waves of the tiniest bit of chakra emitted from the body during any movement. The chakra emitted in these waves is so small that people normally don't notice that their using chakra at all. The waves emitted from movement have unique sizes and lengths that are then memorized by the Sharingan. This therefore memorizes the moves, forms, or jutsu's the opponent uses. This is different from seeing chakra pathways like a Hyuuga, their eyes cannot pick up such a small amount of chakra. The Sharingan eyes can see these chakra patterns and memorize them. However the Sharingan user themselves cannot see these chakra patterns, because the brain does not process that part of the eyesight because it is either non-important or too small of an importance. My seal simply blocks those chakra patterns from the Sharingan, thus the Sharingan user's memorization is fooled, and the user won't know how. This is not all it prevents however, it also stops a Sharingan user from being able to predict my next movements. So actually it disables two parts." Naruto finished, looking at the Sandaime whose jaw had basically hit the floor.

"Naruto, you know how to use seals to that level of understanding?" The Hokage asked, getting a simple nod in reply from the young blonde. Sarutobi fell back in his chair and gave a heavy sigh, while thinking _'I'm too old for this shit.'_

The Hokage brought his gaze upon the young blonde, who he thought was an exact splitting-image of his father. The most un-mistakenly noticeable characteristics were the hair, eyes, and that infamous grin. That along with the other things they had in common is enough for the Sandaime, but no, now they have seal-making in common? This way of thinking brought him to a question.

"Naruto, did Jiraiya teach you about seals?"

"Um, no. He doesn't even know about my hobby. I'd also appreciate it, if this information doesn't leave this room, because the village and especially the council might go and accuse me of trying to unseal the Kyuubi, or other bull-crap like that." Naruto said somewhat angrily, knowing the village's train of thought would probably lead them to that conclusion.

"I understand…but would you mind if I told Jiraiya?"

"No, not at all. The only reason I kept my hobby a secret from him, is so that he wouldn't try and help me with it. I really wanted to learn about seals myself." Naruto explained.

"I see…how long did it take you to create this seal in particular?" The Sandaime asked in curiosity, putting his pipe in his mouth.

"Well…approximately two hours." The Hokage nearly choked on his pipe. The keyword in that sentence is _nearly_.

Once the Hokage managed to regain his bearings, he told Naruto he had too much excitement for one day and would like to close this meeting for some thought.

Naruto got up and was about to leave when The Sandaime raised a hand to stop him. "Naruto, hold on a second."

"What now old man?" Naruto asked tiredly, and obviously rudely as well.

"I forgot to tell you that you will be leading an A-ranked mission, and you will be the squad's leader. Your squad is composed of two jounin, by the names of Yuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma, and Hatake Kakashi. You will not get your chunin vest, but you have acquired chunin rank."

"A chunin leading a squad of jounin on an A-rank mission is unheard of." Naruto commented, but the Hokage shook his head.

"On this mission you will be a stand-in-jounin, which means this mission is to further evaluate your rank, and you will have the power of a jounin on this mission. If you show the qualities of a jounin on this mission, then you will be promoted when you return. You will be briefed on your mission tomorrow at 10:00 A.M., by that time I want you and your team in the mission room. That means you have to gather your team, and bring them there on time." The Hokage finished explaining.

"Could you give me their addresses?" Naruto asked, a sheepish grin present on his face.

"Right, I was prepared for that," The Sandaime took a scrap of paper off his desk and handed it to Naruto, who took the paper and looked at its contents.

"This gives you both Kurenai's and Kakashi's home addresses, Asuma will be notified by me, since he is my son, so don't worry about him."

The paper listed the addresses of both members of his squad, along with basic directions. "Thanks old man," he said while shoving the piece of paper in a pocket of his pants. That said and done, he left the tower and headed home.

* * *

A beeping sound filled the room, bouncing off the walls and disrupting the once peaceful silence.

Naruto's face scrunched up frustratingly when he tried to turn off the blaring noise blindly. His hand flailed around until he finally hit the alarm, bringing the quiet peace back to his world.

Naruto groggily got up, and rubbed his eyes in an attempt to open them. He sat still until his vision began to focus and hopped out of his bed. He checked the time on the accursed alarm, before going to the kitchen to eat. The clock had read 6:01 A.M., which would give him plenty of time to get himself ready, find his team, and meet in the mission room on time.

He walked over to his fridge, and looked over the possible items for breakfast. He decided on an apple, toast, and milk. His simple choices were within his budget, which would surely rise once he got some missions done.

He dropped two pieces of toast in a cheap toaster he had bought on his shopping trip and began eating the apple, while seated at a small table.

Once he had finished eating he got dressed into his black sleeveless shirt and pants, before throwing over his crimson trench coat and standing in front of the mirror. He then tied the Hitai-ate around his neck. He checked over himself, before leaving the apartment room and locking his door securely behind him

He left the building before taking out the scrap of paper that was stored in one of his pants pockets. He memorized Yuhi Kurenai's address before shoving it back into his pocket.

He walked several blocks until he had reach the given address, ignoring the piercing glares directed at him the entire walk. He rang the doorbell, of the elegant abode. Gardening lined the front of the house, giving it the feeling of peace.

The door opened, revealing a thin woman with black hair and crimson eyes.

"Kurenai-san, I presume that you were informed about a mission we are supposed to get?" She nodded her head firmly, before speaking.

"I didn't guess it would be this early however…" She said, checking the clock behind her that read 8:00A.M., before shutting the door behind her.

"Well, I don't want to be late, we need to be at the mission room by 10:00A.M., but before we do we need to get Kakashi-san." Naruto said, making Kurenai laugh as she began walking. While she laughed, Naruto cocked an eyebrow in confusion and caught up to her before asking, "What's so funny?"

Her laughing ceased before she responded, "Your going to get Kakashi, _and_ make it on time? You might as well try to beat a Kage!"

"Why's that?" He asked confusingly.

"Kakashi's never on time, he about three hours late to everything." Kurenai she said in an annoyed tone.

"Is that so?" Naruto said more to himself, then to Kurenai. "Well! I'm going to make him come on time!" Kurenai winced at the volume of his voice.

"You're very loud, you know that right?"

"So?" Naruto said in puzzlement. Kurenai frowned and rubbed her temples in frustration. This kid was striking her nerves already.

Naruto pulled out the slip of paper and studied it, before pocketing it once again.

As they walked Kurenai noticed all the nasty glares she got from people. She was perplexed at first, but then remembered who she was walking with. To despise without an adequate reason, was one of her pet peeves. This made her angry at the villagers for doing such a thing, and respect Naruto a little more for putting up with such treatment.

They arrived at the apartment building where Kakashi resided. Naruto checked a watch he had in his pocket noting they had about an hour and a half before the appointed time.

They walked to the room number, and Naruto knocked on the door. They waited for a minute before a sleepy spiky haired figure answered the door, opening it slightly.

"May I help you?" Kakashi asked tiredly.

"Kakashi-san, we need to be at the mission room by 10:00A.M., so get ready and we'll leave together." Naruto said, watching as the spiky-haired figure nodded and shut the door.

Naruto turned around and smiled at Kurenai, "See! Piece of cake!"

Kurenai shook her head, "It's not over yet."

Naruto looked at her confusingly, but sat down in the hallway and waited….and waited….and waited…

"Gah! It's been forty-five minutes! What's taking him so long?" Naruto got up and knocked on the door rather hard. After waiting for a minute, Naruto grinned mischievously. Kurenai watched as a large grin played across Naruto's face and began to feel uneasy, but decided to just sit back and watch the events play out.

"Kakashi-san, if you don't get your ass out here, I'm blowing this door to smithereens and dragging you out here by force!" Naruto yelled at the door, while checking to see if it was locked or not. Of course it was locked. After waiting a minute, Naruto took out a hand-made explosive note, lit it with chakra, attached it to the door, and fled at high speed.

Kurenai watched as Naruto placed an explosive note on the door, and fled alongside him. Once they fled a good distance down the hall Kurenai turned to him, "What the hell was that!"

Naruto glanced at her infuriated look before replying, "A small explosive note I created, it's destructive force is smaller then the ordinary one."

Kurenai huffed angrily, "That's not what I meant."

Before Kurenai could say anything else, Naruto dashed towards the doorway. He stepped atop the unhinged door, and observed the apartment room.

Kakashi was sitting on his couch, directly across from the angry blonde, with eyes the size of dinner plates, "You didn't have to go and do that to my door!"

"Kakashi-san," Naruto began, "I don't tolerate lateness when it can be avoided. I see that you are ready so we will be leaving," Kakashi didn't budge from his spot, but chose to stare at the boy, "NOW!" Naruto shouted. Kakashi jumped from the spot on his couch and dashed out the apartment door, right past Naruto. Not wanting anymore of the blondes wrath, I mean, he didn't exactly expect the boy to actually blowup his apartment door with an explosive note nonetheless!

Kurenai giggled as Kakashi walked up to her, a defeated look plastered on his face. When he stood next to her, she heard him mumble something around the lines of 'psychotic blonde'.

Naruto walked out of Kakashi's apartment and grinned at the two, "Now that we are all attended for, we should head over to the mission room at the Hokage's tower."

The two nodded dumbly as Naruto walked past them. Kakashi turned to Kurenai, when Naruto was out of hearing distance.

"What the hell is this kid's problem? He destroyed my door because he didn't want to be late. This kid…is a complete nut job!" Kakashi said, exasperation clearly defined in his voice.

Kurenai snickered, "I think the kid only does crazy stuff when you get him annoyed. So for now on, I would try not to be late."

Not be late? Kakashi took pride in being late. Kakashi to say the least did not like the blonde. He took away his pride in being late, what more could he do to him?

Kurenai on the other hand, found herself beginning to respect the blonde more and more. Kakashi's tardiness irritated her to no end, and to see Naruto deal with this problem in such a manner, only made her begin to respect him.

"Kurenai-san, Kakashi-san, lets move it!" The blonde called from the bottom of the staircase. The two caught up to him, and began following him towards the Hokage tower.

When they reached the Hokage tower they entered and began walking towards the mission room. They found the double doors that led to the mission room. Naruto pushed open both doors with ease and looked around.

The mission room had a long table where the Hokage and a chunin sat behind. The chunin seemed familiar to Naruto, but he couldn't remember where he had met him. The chunin had his face buried in scrolls so he couldn't get a good look at his face anyway. A jounin smoking a cigarette, stood by the Hokage as well, Naruto guessed this character was Asuma.

The Hokage had the pipe in his mouth when he saw the three walk in. The three walked up to the table, Naruto in the lead.

"Hey old man!" Naruto greeted, with a large grin spread across his face.

The Sandaime exhaled a puff of smoke, and looked at the other two. Both seemed fixated on the blonde, wondering how he got away with showing such disrespect to the Hokage.

"So old man, what's the mission?" Naruto continued.

The Hokage opened up the A-rank scroll that lay near the others marked D-rank to B-rank. S-rank missions could only be issued by the Hokage himself, and usually in secret. He looked at the missions going down the row until he found the one he needed, and crossed off the assignment before rolling the scroll back up and placing it back on his desk.

The Hokage turned his gaze towards the group as he began to speak, "This mission is being issued by myself. Our scouts have spotted a camp near our border with Rain. The camp seems to be mostly composed of bandits or renegade samurai, but there is also a high possibility of a few missing nins. Your assignment is to exterminate the camp and dispose of the enemies. Naruto, do you by any chance have the Konoha bingo book?"

"Hai, I got from ero-sennin a while back. He told me it would be wise to know who my enemies are. I also know some of the missing nins in the other nations." Naruto explained, Kurenai, Kakashi, and Asuma were wondering the same thing though.

Who the hell was ero-sennin?

"I see," The Sandaime said, "well I leave this mission to your team to complete."

It was at this time the chunin sitting next to him decided to speak up, tearing his gaze from the scrolls he was reading to the Hokage without looking at the group. "Hokage-sama are you actually serious about sending a kid to lead an A-ranked mission?"

"Iruka, this kid is the same rank as you, and is a stand-in-jounin. I would advise you not to underestimate his abilities." The Hokage said sternly.

"Iruka? Iruka-sensei?" Naruto questioned, looking the chunin up and down. "Wow, I had a hard time recognizing you, I mean I was only at the academy for two weeks before I left!"

The chunin turned to face the young blonde, "Naruto? Well, it's been awhile…wait! Naruto you're leading this mission? What the hell kind of alternate dimension was I dropped in?"

"Ha, ha, very funny," Naruto mocked, "I've changed more then you know over the years."

"Actually I do know, "Iruka pointed out, then pointed at his clothing, "no bright orange clothing…that itself is a major improvement."

Naruto grinned sheepishly, before turning to his team. "We are meeting at Konoha's west gate in an hour and a half. You are to grab your provisions and meet me there. Kakashi-san, you are to be there _on time_, otherwise I shoving an explosive note up your ass, is that clear?"

Kakashi nodded his head, while giving out a defeated sigh. One thing he didn't want to do is enrage the blonde, seeing as he might do what he said. The previous event, made him not doubt his words.

Before Naruto left the mission room Iruka called him, "Yeah?"

"Have you visited Hinata yet?" Iruka asked.

Naruto shook his head sadly, "Not yet, but I plan to wait until I can bypass her father. If I were to see her now, it might ruin my plans that I have created beforehand. Don't worry, I plan to in time."

"I'm just making sure, because she does miss you."

"I know, she is my friend after all."

Naruto left the mission room, his team split apart after leaving the Hokage tower. Naruto went to his apartment and sealed many of his weapons and necessities in scrolls. He added a little more weight to his seals, while pocketing the various scrolls. This included the scroll with his seal-making equipment. After he had gathered his resources, he left towards the west gate, intent on leading a successful A-ranked mission.

* * *

CrimsonCat101: Hope you liked it and my own Sharingan explanation. Now review! 


	6. Departure

CrimsonCat101: The next update has finally arrived! Now I'm going to inform you that the next thing I'm going to be doing is starting another story…yeah I know, I just can't keep the idea out of my head, because no one has done it before (sheepishly grins) It is going to be a Naruto and Fourth fic, because there isn't enough of them, (grins). It's going to be different then the others so check it out when I get chapter 1 out. A lot of you asked for more comedy so I present you some (grins)

The end scene was influenced by taintedlegacy. Thank you!

The bathhouse scene was influenced by Niveous. Thank You!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.

A Different Reality

-Departure-

Kurenai patiently waited at the west gates of Konohagakure. She had twenty minutes to spare, so she patiently waited, letting her mind wander. Her mindscape shifted around, before it set to thinking about a certain young ninja, who now was a stand-in-jounin. He was still an enigma to her, the more she thought about him. All she knew about him is that he was the vessel of the nine-tailed fox Kyuubi, and that he didn't tolerate Kakashi's tardiness. She knew that he was only the container, unlike a large population of Konoha. She found that most that disliked the blonde for such a trivial reason were among the civilian populace. Although civilians were expected since they wouldn't understand sealing like ninjas, there still was a few ninjas that hated him for that reason alone. There was also the council that obviously held distaste for him, seeing as they tried to punish him for things menial, or even not his fault. To her, the council was a bunch of old goats that didn't know anything about half of which they said. If it had been her in Naruto's position, she might've already sna-"

"Um, Kurenai-san, are you alright?"

Kurenai nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the person whom her thoughts revolved around, standing in front of her.

"Uh, yeah, I kind of just spaced out a little. It's nothing to be concerned about." She said, sweetly smiling at Naruto.

"Um, okay, I saw you scowling and thought that something was wrong is all." Naruto was stunned by the look Kurenai gave him, was it pity, understanding, respect, or a combination of all three he was not sure.

"Don't worry about her, she does that often when she's bored." A voice said. Naruto turned around to face the new arrival, not surprised that it was Asuma.

"Ah, Asuma-san, have you seen Kakashi-san?" Naruto asked.

"Afraid not." He replied coolly. It was only two minutes until the appointed time, and Kakashi had yet to arrive…

Naruto grinned a very wicked grin, "Well he better get here in two minutes if he knows what is good for his health."

A minute had passed after Naruto's obvious threat, and Kakashi was still not in sight. Naruto calmly took the watch out of his pocket and watched the second's hand. After a short while Naruto began to speak…

"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four…" Asuma and Kurenai tensed, knowing Kakashi's oncoming fate.

"Three."

"Two"

"On-" Naruto was cutoff when a puff of smoke erupted two feet in front of him. The smoke was blown aside by the wind, revealing the familiar silver-haired, masked, copy-nin.

Kakashi looked at Naruto with a slight hint of fear, "I'm not late am I?" He inquired.

Naruto smirked evilly, "Nope, right on time," the group visibly relaxed. "Though a second later I would have been forced to use this," he said menacingly, as he waved an explosive note in front of Kakashi's face. Kakashi stiffened as he watched the note dance in front of his eyes, wary of it's every movement.

"Well, let's move out." Naruto said, pocketing the explosive note, as Kakashi's muscles relaxed instantly.

Naruto walked ahead of the group, passing through the gate and Konoha's reach.

* * *

An ANBU dashed across the rooftops, with a grace and proficiency that someone of her caliber would only possess. She had an important mission, one that was issued directly by the Hokage himself. It was one of great importance and urgency…or at least that's what she kept telling herself. She found that lately she's only been used as the Hokage's messenger girl. She hadn't had a single A-ranked mission in a whole month. This aggravated her, but she ran to her destination regardless. 

Her destination…the bathhouse.

She arrived quickly and began her search. She looked briefly on the men's side, but didn't find the person she had been looking for. It baffled her, because she had been told that her target was bound to be at this location. She was about to search elsewhere, when she heard perverted giggling. She knew that sound, she heard that despicable noise from many men.

She stopped dead in her tracks, and looked in the direction of the sound.

Jiraiya let another perverted giggle escape his lips, as he gazed upon the beauty that lay beyond the fence. His favorite peeking hole was the best spot for his research. He had a perverted grin and bloody nose as he watched through the tiny hole. He continued his observation, until he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned his head around warily, receiving a potent punch to the face. He crashed brutally against the wall, while emitting a painful groan shortly after contact.

"You ANBU are so cruel. Why'd you go and ruin my fun?" He whined, bringing his gaze from the floor and to the ANBU's masked face. There was something different about this ANBU…one, the ANBU had long purple hair…two, the ANBU was radiating harmful killing intent…and three, the ANBU had breast. He gravely concluded that the ANBU was a woman.

Scratch that, a very pissed off kunoichi who just so happened to be an ANBU member.

Jaraiya's thoughts raced as he tried to form an escape plan. The woman grabbed the ninjaken strapped to her back, and slowly closed the distance between them. "Jiraiya-_sama_ I've been sent to find you by the Hokage," she said sweetly. "But, I bet he can wait until I'm finished."

The ANBU's voice and killing intent combined could make Orochimaru piss himself.

Jiraiya watched the blade glisten at her side.

"I've invented one hundred ways to use a my ninjaken against perverted men. I will now demonstrate a few, just for you."

* * *

The Sandaime was working on his nasty pile of papers when he heard the window opened. He looked in the direction of the sliding noise, surprised to see Jiraiya. 

Jiraiya hastily shut the window and backed away from it, he then turned to his previous sensei. "What the hell kind of stunt was that?"

Sarutobi cocked an eyebrow to show his obvious confusion, "What do you mean?"

"I mean the _female_ ANBU you sent to get me! I barely escaped her and that deadly blade! You knew this would happen, didn't you?" Jiraiya accused, darting his eyes to the window every once and a while, as if expecting the women to break in at any given moment.

Sarutobi exhaled a large puff of smoke before speaking calmly. "Jiraiya, I'm afraid I didn't. You see, I wasn't thinking at the time about the ANBU being a female. I was however, more focused on your student's performance during the test…"

Jiraiya gave a smug grin, "I take it you were thoroughly impressed? He did work rather hard to acquire such power. The first year of his training was mostly basics, and let me tell you that his chakra control took months to even get to a genin level! But eventually with my suburb teaching skills, he has become a very capable ninja. He was a worse then average student the first year, but after that…well, his learning capacity increased, and he seemed to eventually gain a thirst for knowledge."

The Sandaime stayed silent, as he seemed to go into deep thought. The Hokage spoke after a minute of contemplation, "Jiraiya, what rank do you believe Naruto to be at?"

"Well, I say…Maybe low to mid jounin level. The kid's a prodigy that's for sure. I won't even be surprised if he surpasses Itachi's level at his age. Let's just hope he just doesn't go as insane as Itachi-"

* * *

(Somewhere in the depths of the Akatsuki lair) 

Itachi was painting his fingernails with utmost care. He liked the purple nail polish that he was now applying. Purple, just so happened to be his favorite color.

He was painting his right index finger, when it happened…

He sneezed.

The sneeze made him jerk his hand downward, making him swipe his right hand with the purple nail polish, and screwing up his careful painting. He cursed loudly, and slammed a hand on the small desk that carried the bottle of the purple liquid. The hand that he had slammed down, caused the desk to slightly tip, and the bottle of his nail polish to dump it's liquid contents over the desk and floor.

His eyes narrowed in frustration as he thought over the chain of events.

"KISAME!" Itachi called, as Kisame entered the room of the base where his partner resided.

"What's the matter?" Kisame asked.

"Grab me my nail polish remover, and an extra bottle of purple nail polish immediately." Itachi said, killing intent rolling over him in threatening waves if Kisame dared to question him.

Kisame complied hastily, before dashing towards the bathroom cupboard. He opened the Itachi's cupboard, gaping at as he did so.

There were at least two-dozen bottles of purple nail polish, and three bottles of nail polish remover. Sure they had to have a large stock of everything because they didn't get out very often to do shopping, but this was ridiculous! It was almost as ridiculous as the large amount of pocky Itachi carries around under his cloak! He grabbed the nail polish remover that had been slightly used and a new bottle of nail polish before dashing back to Itachi's room.

When Itachi received the said objects from Kisame, he cursed up a storm of disconcerting words at whatever caused him to sneeze, and locked himself in his room alone to finish his work in peace.

* * *

(Back at the Hokage tower) 

"So I don't want Naruto an ANBU until maybe fifteen years of age at least, too much pressure for such a young age." Jiraiya continued.

It was at this moment that Jiraiya suddenly went on a sneezing frenzy.

"Are you alright Jiraiya?"

"Uh, yeah," Jiraiya waved him off before grinning madly, "I bet it's just a bunch of beautiful women talking about how great I am."

Sarutobi rolled his eyes, but continued. "Jiraiya, I'm guessing Naruto told me correctly when he informed me that you were unaware of his sealing abilities?"

Jiraiya looked at him with evident confusion. "What sealing abilities?"

"Naruto, during his test, had shown the wisdom of a possible seal master. He created a seal that had blocked most of the Sharingan's power. The scary part of the manner is it only took him two hours to do so."

"How is that possible?" Jiraiya's face was that of absolute shock, but it quickly dissolved in seconds. "That explains some things though…"

The Hokage raised an eyebrow curiously, "What things?"

"Well first, Naruto suddenly stopped complaining about me leaving him alone for my research during his last three years of training. At first I found it odd, but settled to think that he was making use of his time, I didn't expect this however. It also might explain his lack of sleep some days…"

The Sandaime watched as Jiraiya muttered a few things to himself before coming back to reality.

"Wait, why didn't he tell me?" Jiraiya asked in confusion.

"Well, he told me he didn't want your help, so he kept what he called his 'hobby' to himself."

Jiraiya thought for a moment before responding, "I'm going to visit the kid and see these sealing abilities. Where can I find him?"

"Naruto just left this morning on an A-rank mission as a stand-in-jounin."

"Which gate?"

"West, but Jiraiya, shouldn't you…" Sarutobi muttered the last few words to himself, seeing as Jiraiya had already left, "Wait until he returns…" Sighing heavily, the Hokage turned his gaze back to the pile of papers.

"How did you do it Arashi? Paperwork never seemed to bother you…" He muttered under his breath before grudgingly working on the papers.

* * *

'_Enemy encampment located just west of Enkoo no Mura (Enkoo Town).__ Enkoo no Mura? Well doesn't that work out nicely? Best to get information there before we deal with the camp. __The enemies camp resides near the border between Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire) and Ame no Kuni (Land of Rain). Trade between Enkoo no Mura and any other towns have been repeatedly sabotaged usually dealing with theft. A few of Enkoo no Mura's female adolescents and young adults have also been reported missing the past few days._ _Crap! I hope Mei-san and Aiko-chan are okay… __The camp is claimed to contain bandits and renegade samurai, however a few reports claim to say that there are also missing nins from Ame (Rain). __Sounds exciting,, let's see the rest says stuff about percentage of sabotaged caravans and other non-important stuff.'_

Naruto closed the mission scroll he had grabbed off the Hokage's desk before leaving the past day. The scroll had made him want to move more hastily, since people he knew could be in danger, but he forced down those feelings of urgency and settled to keep walking at the set pace.

It had only been about four minutes since they left Konoha through the west gate. Naruto decided it was best to get to know his team now.

Naruto was leading the way, with the three jounin following him when he spoke. "I need to know my team, so why don't you tell me a little about yourselves. Such as your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, and fighting style…"

The three looked at him curiously, so Naruto continued. "I'll start first. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, training, and learning new jutsus. I dislike arrogant people and people who hurt my 'precious' people. My hobbies include pranks against Ero-sennin, and sealing jutsus."

"Who's Ero-sennin?" Kurenai interrupted.

"To you he's known as Jiraiya, one of the legendary sannin." Naruto explained.

The group gaped, but Kakashi regained his bearings quickly. "Naruto, how do you know Jiraiya-sama?"

"He's my sensei." He simply stated, saying it as though he were talking about the weather.

'_That explains how he became so strong, along with other things as well. Hmmm…He reminds me of someone I know, but I can't seem to place my finger on it…' _Kakashi thought.

Naruto continued on with his introduction, "My dream is to protect those precious few people, and become the greatest Hokage in history, surpassing all those before me. My preferred taijutsu style is the Kiatsu-Ryu (Air pressure Style), which makes good use of my wind affinity. I can fight well against a mass of opponents or a single opponent. It doesn't matter to me. Genjutsu is not my strong point, but I can fend off against weak to average genjutsu. I have a summoning contract with toads, and my favorite jutsu would have to be the Rasengan at the moment…"

'_SENSEI! That's who he reminds me of! They even look alike!' _Kakashi thought, his amazement clearly shown.

Naruto looked at Kakashi's expression oddly, but shrugged it off. "Kurenai-san, your turn."

Kurenai focused her eyes on the road ahead, as her pace remained steady. "My name is Yuhi Kurenai. I like gardening and chakra control. I dislike those that think kunoichi are weak. My dream was to acquire jounin rank, but now that I have attained that, I'm not sure what my dream is. I specialize in genjutsu, as well as sensing hidden enemies with an advanced chakra pulse."

Naruto nodded, as Asuma began his speech. "I am Sarutobi Asuma. I like Shougi, Go, and cigarettes. I dislike getting involved in menial affairs. I don't really have a dream at the moment. I don't have a hobby at the moment either. I to have the wind affinity, but I utilize it's abilities in my trench knives. I use taijutsu with a mixture of my trench knives to quickly dispose of my opponents."

Naruto grinned, "You also have a wind affinity, eh? It's not very common in these parts, but that's makes it all the more cooler. I know it's capabilities quite well, so that's an added benefit I guess."

Asuma exhaled a small cloud of smoke, his cigarette occupied on the side of his mouth. Kakashi meanwhile had a far-away look in his eyes, as if he were no longer present in the group.

"Kakashi-san?"

No response.

"Kakashi-san?"

Silence.

"KAKASHI!"

"Hm?" Kakashi noticed Naruto's hard glare, "Oh, yes. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like Icha Icha and being _late_." Kakashi's voice seemed to gain a cold edge, to which Naruto only snickered at. Kakashi continued, "I dislike those that take my pride from me or use explosive notes haphazardly," Again his eyes narrowed at a certain blonde, but the said person brushed it off easily with a shrug, "I mostly dislike those that abandon their teammates however."

Naruto knew there seemed to be a story behind those words, but he would leave it be for now.

"My hobbies include reading Icha Icha among other things. I was previously an ANBU member, but now I have retired. I wield the Sharingan as you have seen in our previous match. I have many styles of fighting, including over a thousand jutsus. I prefer one-on-one fighting, because assassination of a single target is my specialty, but I can fight multiple enemies. I have a summoning contract with dogs, and I have created my own technique called the chidori, otherwise known as the raikiri."

Naruto nodded in acceptance, registering all of which he heard. He knew Kakashi had the Sharingan before the test. Jiraiya had told him a simplified version of the story of which it happened. He pretty much only knew the basics of the story.

Kakashi was about to be killed when his teammate took the hit for him, trapping him under a boulder. His friend just so happened to be an Uchiha and had given Kakashi one of his Sharingan eyes. The other teammate implanted the Sharingan into Kakashi. Rine was her name…or was it Rin? Reta, Ri… He couldn't remember the names, but he got the basic story down, he would have to hear the story from Kakashi himself.

"Good, now that we know each other it will make planning strategies a hell lot easier." Naruto said, as he took out a scroll from one of his many pockets on his pants.

He unrolled it, and studied the map in his hands. He then decided the course they were going to take, along with the places they were to rest. He estimated that they would arrive at Enkoo no Mura by the fourth night, if things went smoothly.

Naruto closed the map, and put it back in his pocket. They continued on the set course for twenty minutes, until Naruto began to feel uneasy.

He slowed down until he was next to Kurenai. "Do you feel that?" He asked softly.

Her crimson eyes darted over to him, her body language told him what he needed to know.

She also felt someone's presence.

"Can you use that enhanced chakra pulse of yours?"

She nodded, forming multiple hand seals and then releasing an invisible wave of chakra. Kurenai turned to Naruto, "Forty-six meters behind us, and approaching fast. It's only one person."

Naruto quickly created two Kage Bunshins, and made them circle behind the possible foe. He would first find out whom it is, if that person meant no harm, the Kage Bunshins would dispel themselves and reveal who said person was. If the person was a threat then one of the Kage Bunshins would dispel themselves, and alert the original, while the other clone would engage the opponent.

When both Bunshins dispelled, Naruto smirked and told everyone to stop walking. The group looked at him curiously, as Naruto faced the location of the new arrival.

The person tracking them landed before them with ease.

"Hey ero-sennin!" Naruto greeted cheerfully.

Said person's vein throbbed angrily, at the friendly insult. He stalked up to the blonde, and made him kiss mother earth.

"Ah! That hurt!" Naruto cried as he clutched his head painfully, a large bump displayed atop his head.

"You need to learn how to show me respect brat!" Jiraiya scolded, as Naruto shakily got back on his feet.

"Jiraiya-sama, why are you here?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm here to see Naruto-baka. The kid has been hiding something from me." Jiraiya said, turning to face the accused.

"Ah, well, I didn't expect to come find me, but since you have all show you now." Naruto said, as he took a different scroll from one of his pockets. He unfurled it and bit his thumb, then swiped it down the text.

His sealing supplies appeared, and he grabbed them. The brush and paint were caught in one hand, and the spiral notebook in the other.

"So you know how to seal items, that's one thing." Jiraiya noted.

"Here," Naruto said as he handed him the notebook to look at, "It contains all my sketch work, designs, and ideas."

Jiraiya began flipping through the notebook. "Naruto…this…this is amazing!" Jiraiya stuttered, as he studied over the work.

Naruto's face gained a small blush as Jiraiya praised him for his work. He didn't get praised very often, so when Jiraiya did, he couldn't ever stop from being slightly embarrassed.

Asuma leaned over Jiraiya's shoulder, as well as Kakashi.

"Damn, that's pretty complicated stuff." Asuma whistled.

Kakashi knew quite a bit about sealing, so some of the seals made sense, while others…bewildered him beyond belief.

"Wait what's this?" Jiraiya inquired.

Naruto looked at him questioningly while walking over to see what they were looking at. "Oh that? That one is a work-in-progress as you can clearly see. That one may take me months to even years to complete."

Jiraiya awed at the design. It was titled Oni Shihaiteki Yokuseiryoku (Demon Dominant Restraint).

"What is it supposed to do?" Jiraiya asked.

"It is designed to support the Shiki Fūjin. In doing so it will allow me to have complete control of the Kyuubi's chakra, so that I won't lose control to said demon." Naruto stated.

"This has to do with the incident doesn't it?" Jiraiya said in a very uncommon seriousness.

Naruto glanced away, his face obscured by a shadow to those around him. Under the shadow his eyes remained blank, distant, and impassive.

Jiraiya got the hint so he continued flipping through the pages, until he reached a title that drew his attention.

"Sharingan Kekkan? (Sharingan Flaw)" Jiraiya asked.

Kakashi who had started to become distant to the world as he became engulfed in his owned thoughts, returned as he heard the title. He focused on the page, still looking over Jiraiya's shoulder.

"Is this what you used during your test?" Jiraiya questioned, amazed at the simplicity of such a seal. He slapped himself mentally as he gazed at the design. Usually when trying to make a doujutsu defective, such as this, you would focus on the user of the doujutsu. Naruto instead focused on making the doujutsu not work on _him, _by not messing with the doujutsu at all, but what makes it work. He focused on what made the Sharingan work, which in this case would be the chakra patterns. It also seems to eat a small portion of his chakra to working, so that explains why he doesn't wear it all the time. _'No wonder Naruto wouldn't stop asking me how the Sharingan and Byakugan worked those months ago. He wanted to make sure he had the raw materials to make a seal, in case he needed to do so in the future.'_

Naruto nodded, "Can I have my notebook back now? I think you get the point."

Naruto outreached his hand, gesturing for Jiraiya to give him the notebook. Jiraiya unhesitant of his actions handed over the notebook. Kakashi on the other hand was a bit frustrated that he didn't get a better look at what stopped his Sharingan.

Naruto grasped the notebook firmly and resealed the items back in the scroll, before snapping it shut in one of the scroll shaped pockets in his pants.

"So are you going back to Konoha?" Naruto inquired.

Jiraiya shook his head, which bewildered Naruto. Naruto was about to ask why not, but was bashed atop his head once more before he could do so.

"What was that for?" Naruto demanded, while he rubbed the second sore spot that day.

"That was for not telling me about your talent! You're close to becoming a seal master, and I had no idea whatsoever. I have full right to be upset." Jiraiya retorted, while he spun on his heel and walked towards the direction of which he came.

"Where're you going?" Naruto asked.

"Back to Konoha, see you after your mission kid!"

Naruto sighed and turned in the direction of the path they were walking previously before Jiraiya had appeared.

Kurenai found the relationship between Naruto and Jiraiya very amusing, as did Asuma. Kakashi however, was strangely nowhere to be seen.

"Kakashi-san?" Naruto called. He received no answer.

'Where the hell is he?'

* * *

"Jiraiya-sama?" 

Jiraiya turned around to find a very desperate jounin, a copy of one of his books firmly grasped in his hands.

"Can you autograph my book?" Kakashi asked a he shoved the book forcefully in front of Jiraiya's face.

"Ah, I see you are a fan of mine? I'm getting quite famous aren't I?" Jiraiya said as he fantasized female fans also asking for his autograph, drooling as he did so. He snapped out of his dream world, and signed the book on the back of the cover.

"Oh, before you go," Jiraiya started as he handed Kakashi two books, "Give Naruto a copy and you can have the other."

Kakashi looked at the book, his eyes widening as he did so. _'Icha Icha Paradise V Gold edition' _

"This isn't supposed to come out until next week." Kakashi gasped in complete awe of the book, the heavens had granted his wish it seemed. "Wait, Naruto?"

"Yeah the kid isn't obsessed, but he doesn't mind reading them every so often."

Kakashi nodded enthusiastically regardless, and dashed away merrily with stars in his eyes.

* * *

CrimsonCat101: This is probably the only time I do one of those sneezing scenes, because they are overused but it was fun to type (grins) Also the bathhouse scene, I know Jiraiya wasn't hurt expect for the unexpected punch, because he's a sannin. so anyway review! 


	7. Planning

CrimsonCat101: Well, I'm back. Heh heh, sorry it took so long…really long, but I was busy, and can read my profile for my excuses. I also was writing Ghost Guardian, my new story, CHECK IT OUT! My BETA took a while to give me the edited version, because he fixed quite a lot, so thank him, cause he's awesome. I enjoy, because it was a pain in the ass for me, but hopefully the next chapter runs more smoothly. Remember to check my profile for news on updates.

Q: Why does it take e so long to update?

A: Because I make sure that you people get a good chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does…If I did Naruto would wear something that isn't that orange jumpsuit XD… Also the plan Kakashi makes was created by my BETA (mimicv18), because my plan was suicidal XDDDD

A Different Reality

-Planning-

Kakashi had rejoined the group shortly after speaking with Jiraiya. Although he was only gone for three minutes, Naruto was anything but happy. He found Naruto with his arms crossed, foot tapping, and scowl present on his once placid face. He had questioned the masked jounin where he had been, but Kakashi only answered with an eye-smile and a simple statement. "I had business to take care of." Kakashi didn't evaluate any further, which only seemed to irritate the blonde even more.

Kakashi had stored Jiraiya's books in a scroll before he had joined the group. He knew that during an A-ranked mission, reading his book was not a smart choice. Danger was a given on an A-ranked mission, and as long as there was any danger he would not read his book. Although, this may not stop him from reading a little bit, the blonde did. Naruto might lecture him that reading would most likely put him off-guard, and that would be disastrous if they were attacked. He did not want to tempt the blonde's wrath, especially when it was usually dished out in explosives.

Enkoo no Mura was about five days travel from Konohagakure no Sato, and the designated camp was about a half of a day's travel from there. The group had only been traveling for half a day, so they still had a long while.

The first night, Naruto had token the first watch while everyone slept. He watched the darkening sky, and the stars that had become apparent in it. The stars were always very bright away from Konoha, away from lights…the lights from the village make the stars less visible then they are away from it. When he had started traveling with Jiraiya it was one thing that made him feel so far away from home…To him it made him feel like he was a world away from Konoha…Sharing the same sky, but not the same view…

He was at peace until a certain mop of gravity defying silver-hair decided to block his view.

Naruto didn't look at him as he spoke in a monotone voice, "Move it broom-head."

The appointed 'broom-head' sat down on the grass next to the blonde, "What's eating you?"

"Shouldn't you be asleep? Energy is important, and drowsiness might get you killed. You even have the next watch I might add." After a short pause, Naruto checked to see if the others were still sleeping. His eyes swept over the three sleeping bags. The one that was Kakashi's was obviously vacant, while the other two raised and fell with every breath the occupants took.

Naruto looked at Kakashi and sighed, "I was just thinking about Konoha and the other places I've visited."

Kakashi threw him a questioning glance, "What about them?"

"Well every place shares the same sky, but a different view of it, correct?"

Kakashi nodded his head as he gave Naruto a confused look. He had no idea where the young blonde was taking the conversation.

Naruto only continued to look at the dark sky, and the stars that decorated it. "I was thinking how I was like the sky…I am one thing, but everyone will always see me in a different light…And Konoha just so happens to have the worst view, and I wonder if I can ever change that…"

Kakashi thought carefully before replying, "Don't forget that the stars in the sky move, and maybe one day they will see the same sight that others already have…it just takes time."

Naruto smiled at the answer Kakashi had given him. He would just have to keep trying until he dream was realized…

They shared a comfortable silence until Kakashi spoke, "Naruto, how did Jiraiya come to teaching you anyway?"

Naruto tensed slightly, before he pushed his feelings aside, "I was being attacked by an ANBU when Ero-sennin had found me, he then decided to help train me so that I can look after myself."

"I see…" Kakashi knew that Naruto's childhood was anything but pleasant. Kakashi was one of the ANBU at the time, and helped protect Naruto on his birthday of every year, when the civilians' and shinobis' aggressions were always at an all-time high. The ANBU stopped many attacks directed at Naruto during that time, but sometimes they couldn't stop everything that came his way, including a nice-sized rock that had hit Naruto on the head when he had turned five. Naruto was hospitalized for a week after that attack…

"Kakashi."

Kakashi snapped back to reality, and mentally berated himself for getting so caught up in his own thoughts.

"You should get some rest. I'll wake you up in about an hour for your watch." Naruto said as he leaned back on his hands, and looked at Kakashi.

Kakashi slowly got back on his feet, and took a step towards his sleeping bag, before stopping abruptly.

"I forgot to give you something." He hummed, as he reached for a small scroll that was tucked in a pocket of his jounin vest. He took out the scroll and opened it to reveal two copies of an orange book. He handed one to Naruto, who curiously took it in his hands. "Jiraiya-sama, wanted me to give you a copy. He told me you read them."

Naruto nodded and smiled, "I do, but I'm not addicted to them. I'll read them once and awhile when I get bored, and it's not like I have to pay for them."

Kakashi nodded, and tucked his book securely into his weapon's pouch. He started to walk towards his bag once more, before Naruto's voice stopped him.

"Wait Kakashi,"

Kakashi turned around; his eyebrow was cocked questionably near his visible eye. "Hm?"

"Don't let me catch you reading that book during the mission." Naruto lightly threatened, sending him a mischievous grin.

Kakashi turned back towards his bag and raised his right arm to show Naruto that he understood.

Naruto turned back to the stars, and sighed. 'This is going to be a long mission', he thought exhaustingly.

* * *

The group continued down the dirt trail that led to Enkoo. It had been four days, but today was the day they arrived at town. 

During the trip Naruto had learned a bit about his team. Asuma's personality was laid-back and carefree and just as blunt at times. Kurenai was a kunoichi that took her job seriously. She had a caring type of personality and had a deep hatred for perverts. She was also quite inquisitive at times depending on the subject, which led Naruto to believe that she was a little above average when it comes to book smarts.

Kakashi however seemed to be emotionless most of the time, and when he did show some kind of emotion, it felt fake. Naruto felt his emotionless mask was part of an adaptation to the shinobi way of life. The shinobi code often said that emotion is a weakness commonly used against you by your enemies. Kakashi also kept himself distant and detached from the others, as though he was afraid to become close to anyone. To Naruto, Kakashi was an acquaintance of sorts. They had a good understanding of the other, and for shinobi that was often good enough.

They were about an hour away from Enkoo no Mura and to say the least, Naruto was ecstatic. He learned to hide that fact a lot better then when he was younger, so he settled for a grin.

"We're almost there." Naruto announced to the group as he folded his map and stored it away. Kurenai smiled at the fact that the long walk was over and that they finally arrived. Asuma lit a cigarette, before casually relaxing his hands in his pants' pockets. Kakashi however, was trying not to grab the book in his pouch. His hand was set in the pouch on top of the book, and was twitching at the fact he was so close to it, but couldn't read it.

"So, why are we stopping at Enkoo anyway?" Kurenai asked Naruto curiously

Naruto's grin dropped to a smile, "I need to get information about the camp. This place being so close to the camp, is the perfect way to get information, especially because I know someone that will probably have some great info." he explained.

"Who is this someone you're talking about?" Kurenai asked.

"He's part of Ero-sennin's information network, I met him a while back during my first year of training. His name is Kawachi Masaru, and he's a retired jounin from Konoha." Naruto explained.

The group walked for a while longer, the town's entrance finally came into view. The group followed Naruto through the town all the while observing the quiet streets. There were the occasional people walking by, but there wasn't too much. Most of the stores were open, but some were closed.

Naruto's face-hardened, as he walked to the two-story house him and Jiraiya had previously visited. The group arrived at the doorstep, and Naruto knocked lightly on the door. There was no answer, so Naruto knocked slightly harder. This time the door opened, but no one was standing at the doorway to greet him. Instead a kunai flew out of the house aimed at Naruto's head, to which Naruto caught deftly with his right hand, an inch before it would've nicked his Hitai-ate.

"Is that anyway to greet someone?" Naruto questioned in a monotone dialog.

A man walked out of the shadows of the house and approached the blonde. His hair was spiky and black, with two blue bangs that framed his face. His eyes were an ice blue that resembled the frost that covered the ground during the winter. His clothing was that of standard Konoha jounin apparel, minus the jounin vest and Hitai-ate. "You're Konoha nins eh?" He said as he recognized the symbols on their Hitai-ates', "Sorry, I thought you were somebody else."

Naruto nodded in understanding, before braking out into a large grin, "Where's Aiko-chan?"

Masaru looked at the boy confusingly, "How do y-" He cut off what he was about to say, before looking more closely at the boy, "Damn! Is that you Naruto? You've gotten taller, compared to the pintsized six-year old that visited me."

Naruto grinned, "Sure is! Although I don't appreciate the pintsized remark…" he muttered. "So where's Aiko-chan and Mei-chan?"

Masaru observed the group behind Naruto before turning back to the boy, "They're inside." Masaru stepped to the side of the doorway, so that they could enter, "Come in, I'm betting you want some information on the camp."

Naruto walked in as well as Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai.

Masaru looked at Naruto, "So who are they?"

Kurenai stepped forward, "You are Kawachi Masaru? My name is Yuhi Kurenai. The other two next to me are Hatake Kakashi, and Sarutobi Asuma."

Masaru looked at the silver-haired jounin, "So you're the infamous Kakashi eh? I've heard a lot about you, but what ninja hasn't?" Masaru then turned around, "Follow me."

Masaru flicked on the light that led to the basement, and began descending down the staircase. They followed him silently, as they were led down below the earth's surface.

"Alright, I'll tell you as much as I know. I know quite a lot, so I might be able to answer nearly all of your questions." Masaru said as he pulled on a string that lit a light bulb. The light revealed a wooden table with what appeared to be a layout of a small camp.

"I let you look those over while I go get Aiko and Mei-chan. I'll be back to answer any questions you may have for me." Masaru said, before walking back up the steps.

Asuma looked at the detailed layout, "Damn, this will make things a ton easier."

Kurenai nodded, "This was a good idea, and this will surely save us many troubles."

Kakashi began looking the map over intently, before reaching up and pulling up his Hitai-ate to reveal the Sharingan underneath.

Naruto noticed Kakashi lift Hitai-ate, "Kakashi-san, what are you doing?"

"It is best if I memorized this layout." Was his short reply, as his one eye scanned over the large paper briefly, before it was once more covered by his Hitai-ate.

Naruto nodded in understanding and left him to it, before looking at the large paper himself.

The layout was fairly simple, with the camp being about 440 yards x 235.5 yards. The east and west sides were 235.5 yards, while the north and south sides were larger at 440 yards long. There were gates on each side, and the walls were about 3.2 yards in height. There were about 50 samurai that resided in tents on the east side. The paper stated that there were approximately 130 bandits scattered throughout the camp. The main tent was located in the center of the camp and was estimated to contain eight missing nins from Ame (Rain). A few bandits patrolled alongside each gate, usually traveling in groups of three.

Naruto knew that infiltrating the camp would be the easy part, however he had no idea of how he were to rid of the camp's occupants with only three jounin and himself. The missing nins was what he was worried about the most, concerning about the fact he had no idea about their ranks. They could be anywhere from genin to jounin level, and if all eight were jounin level, then this mission was going to be very difficult.

Naruto took his gaze off the layout and looked at the group. "So what you think?"

Kurenai was still looking at the layout as she spoke, "I think it may be difficult, but it isn't impossible…It really depends on the levels of those missing nins really."

Asuma exhaled a small cloud of smoke, "So when do we leave?"

Naruto looked at the layout, "If we can come up with a decent plan before nightfall, probably tomorrow morning. Otherwise we'll head out the next morning. It's best to strike as soon as possible. Otherwise they might find out about our arrival and boost their defenses."

"So any ideas?" Kakashi turned to look at the blonde who was now deep in silent contemplation, his eyes closed and his chin resting in between his right thumb, and index finger.

"Well…" Naruto opened his cerulean eyes, gazing at the group as a whole. "Asuma-san should obviously deal with the samurai, considering the fact that his weapons are wind enhanced trench knives and should slice through the samurai's swords like butter. Kurenai-san I believe should handle the bandits, her genjutsu would always be 100 percent successful, since bandits can't release a genjutsu. Weak widespread genjutsus should do the trick quite nicely. Kakashi-san and I would take care of the missing nins, and you both could be our backup in case we need it."

The group considered this briefly before agreeing it was a good idea, well expect Kakshi who was still staring at the layout intently. Naruto took out a scroll from his pants and swiped his blood across one of the many words labeled on the inside on the scroll. A small puff of smoke was emitted from the palm of Naruto's hand, until it revealed four small electronic devices.

"These are so we can communicate," Naruto began, handing out the small black electronic earpieces to each of his squad, "Don't hesitate to call for backup when you need it." Naruto then looked at the layout, "Alright, now all we need is a plan of action."

Kakashi's gaze turned from the paper to Naruto, "I think I have a plan."

Naruto nodded, "Let's hear it."

"Alright, Naruto would st-"

"Oh, Naruto-san!" A woman's voice cut in.

Naruto turned around to the staircase. The woman was dressed in simple black kimono wear. She had long black hair that reached her waist and dark charcoal eyes. A warm smile made her features seem frail and gentle. "Hey Mei-chan! It's been a long time huh?"

"Indeed it has." She replied walking towards him.

Naruto grinned while he looked around, "Where's Aiko-chan?"

Mei smiled, "She's coming, and so is Masaru." She looked at the table behind Naruto, "Invading that enemy encampment eh?"

Naruto nodded sternly, "Yeah, you know anything about it?"

Mei looked at him and blinked, before disappearing and then reappearing right before Naruto in a blink of an eye. She grabbed his whisker-marked cheeks and pinched them affectionately, "Aaawww, you've grown so much! Last time I saw you, you were such a hyper-active midget!" She cooed in a voice that made Naruto feel as though he were a three-year old.

"Cut that out Mei-san, and why does everyone got to keep bringing up the midget thing!" Naruto huffed childishly, while Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma snickered at Naruto's expense.

Naruto glared at Kakashi, before silently opening one of his pants pockets. Kakashi glimpsed the explosive note and became abruptly silent. The group stared at him and the sudden lack of noise from the masked jounin. Naruto snapped his pocket shut again before anyone else could notice.

"Um, Mei-san," Naruto asked, with his eyes audibly twitching in irritation.

"Hai Naruto?"

"Mind letting go of my face? I kind of need it."

Mei blushed from embarrassment, before rapidly letting go of Naruto's cheeks and letting her arms rest by her sides. "Sorry, its just you were acting so much older then you are, and it made you look really adorable…" She explained.

Naruto sighed, "So can you tell me what you know about the camp?"

Mei smiled, "I don't know much, but what I do know is that some of the town's women have been kidnapped by those pigs. Also the trade we do with other towns is usually stolen when being shipped, but it's never anything that isn't edible."

"Hey Naruto I'm back, and I brought someone with me." Masaru called as he entered the basement, a girl followed closely behind him. The girl's hair was up in two pigtails that fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were a frosty blue, and her hair a midnight black. She wore a light blue top and black pants that stopped near the bottom of her knee were it wrapped tightly.

"Um dad, you never told me people were down here." The small girl looked at father questionably.

"Aiko honey, this is Naruto, and the other three are Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai." Masaru explained gesturing to each one as they were introduced. "Do you remember Naruto honey?"

Aiko looked at the blonde, before shaking her head vigorously, "Sorry, but I don't."

Naruto felt his heart give a sharp pain when Aiko had said that, but he shook the feeling off. He knew better then to think that Aiko would remember someone that visited when she was only four. She was nine now, but he had a small bit of hope that she would remember him, if only a bit.

Naruto walked up to her and offered a hand, "My name Uzumaki Naruto. It's okay that you don't remember me, so don't feel bad about it. I guess we can just start over okay?"

Aiko nodded gingerly before shaking his hand, "Kawachi Aiko."

Naruto grinned, "Pleased to meet you Aiko-chan."

They broke the shake, while Naruto turned his attention to Masaru. "Masaru-san, I have a few questions about the encampment."

Masaru nodded and approached the round table, "I expected as much, so what do you need to know?"

Naruto turned towards the table, and pointed to the main tent that was located in the center of the layout. "Right here, you have labeled an estimated eight missing nins from Ame (Rain) occupying this tent. However, you don't specify the rank, or level of their abilities. I was wondering if you have an idea of their levels or identities."

Masaru spoke calmly, "Unfortunately I don't know much, and my information may be false. I heard that two of those missing nins are jounin level ninja, and that they have made quite a name for themselves. The rest of the other ninjas, I have no clue about. So is there anything else?" Masaru asked curiously, looking at the blonde and his comrades.

Kurenai scrutinized the paper, before looking at Masaru suspiciously, "Is this information reliable?"

Masaru nodded, "I wasn't a jounin for nothing, yah know? I scouted the camp just recently in case I needed information for the future, seeing as how they're ruining this town and endangering my family…" Masaru put a hand on his daughter's head as he said that.

Mei agreed with her husband, "This place isn't safe anymore to just waltz around outside. If it wasn't for Masaru, I don't know where I'd be now…"

Kakashi who had remained silent for most of the conversation spoke up suddenly. "How are you a part of Jiraiya's information network?"

Masaru smirked, "I work at the local bar, so I pick up quite a bit of information. Some become more careless with information when drunk. Jiraiya had asked me to inform him of any information that I happen to come across, and I get a little extra pay in return."

"A bar huh…" Kakashi mused, rubbing his chin. He wondered why he never thought about gathering information at such a place.

Naruto remembered what they were discussing before they were interrupted, and turned to Kakashi. "So Kakashi what was the plan you were talking about?"

"Well," Kakashi drawled, "I was thinking we use your massive chakra supply and Kage bunshins to create a less suicidal plan. First you would create about a hundred kage bunshins and then split them in groups of 25. Each group would then take a gate and take out the patrols. After the patrols have been dealt with, the clones would then destroy and take down the gates, drawing attention to each gate…"

"And splitting the enemy four ways…" Naruto finished in awe, the plan made total sense. Kakashi did have a lot of experience when it came to things like this, due to the fact that he fought in the war against Iwa.

"Exactly," Kakashi nodded, explaining the plan while tracing his finger across the camp's layout. "Then Asuma and Kurenai will find the women being held captive and escort them to safety, taking enemies down along the way. Naruto and I will locate the eight missing nins and eliminate them. Once Asuma and Kurenai have completed their assigned task they will be our backup if needed, otherwise they will just help Naruto's kage bunshins clear out the encampment."

"Sounds like a sound plan to me." Asuma commented, everyone readily agreed with him.

Naruto turned to Masaru, "Mind if we stay here for awhile?"

Masaru smiled, "I wouldn't mind at all, you should know that. It is the least I can do, if you're getting rid of this town's problems."

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "Uh, thanks."

Aiko looked at her father, "Dad, did you say that they're getting rid of those bad guys?"

Masaru smiled down at his daughter, "Yeah I did honey."

Aiko's expression became happy, and she grinned at the Konoha ninjas, "Thank you!"

Naruto smiled gently at her before his stomach gave an unsettling rumble. Naruto grinned sheepishly while Mei and Masaru chuckled.

"I can cook dinner for us all, I'll go get started." Mei walked up the stairs and to the kitchen.

Masaru watched as his wife ascended the stairs before turning back to the group. "Why don't we all head upstairs, I'll show you the guest room after dinner as well." Masaru walked up the stairs, before the squad shortly followed him.

Kakashi looked at Naruto, "So you're a midget huh?" he teased. The others took no notice of the conversation going on between the two.

Naruto glared at him dangerously, "If you ever mention anything about my size, I will be spoon-feeding you my explosive notes for dinner."

Kakashi knowing not to take Naruto's threats lightly, gulped, and became silent once more.

The group ate dinner while Masaru explained why he was no longer a jounin. He told them, that after meeting his wife and getting married, he retired in order to settle down as a family. He felt that a shinobi's life would make it difficult to spend time with his family.

After dinner Masaru escorted them to the second floor, and opened the door to the guest room. Asuma was the first to enter, and observed the room. He brought the cigarette out of his mouth as he spoke, "This might be a problem."

"What's a problem?" Naruto asked curiously as the rest filed into the room. When Naruto saw the room he immediately knew what Asuma meant. "Oh, I see what you mean."

The room was quite large however, there was only one bed.

Masaru looked at the group embarrassingly, "Ah, this room is all I have to offer I'm afraid." He then turned to Asuma, "Also I'm afraid this is a non-smoking house." He snatched Asuma's cigarette from his hand, and walked downstairs. Asuma stared open-mouthed at the ex-jounin as he left.

The four were left in complete silence as they looked at the room.

Asuma sat on the bed and laid down, he however he was instantly pushed off by another, and fell to the ground with a thud.

Kurenai smirked, "Sorry, but the beds taken. I'm the only woman here, so the rest of you have to sleep on the floor."

Naruto nodded, "Woman's got a point."

Asuma got up and looked back at Kurenai, "There's room enough for two…"

Kurenai flushed a crimson red, wondering if the other two heard that. They didn't, as they were currently busy setting sleeping bags. She scowled at Asuma, "Pervert!" She scolded, before bashing him atop his head and turning away from him to seethe.

Naruto heard Kurenai yell and turned to the grounded Asuma, "What'd you do to make her that angry?"

Asuma sighed and began unpacking his sleeping bag as he spoke, "I said something to her."

Naruto sweat-dropped at the frank answer he was given, but took it anyway. They all got comfortable in their individual sleeping bags, or in Kurenai's case, bed. Naruto looked at the ceiling as he thought of the mission he would soon carry out. They would depart tomorrow morning, and arrive at the enemy encampment by nightfall. He just hoped everything went according to plan.


	8. Battle at Enemy Camp Phase 1

CrimsonCat101: Hey! I'm back finally with an update. I'm sorry it took so long, but yeah life is hectic. But hey, I can guarantee it's quality )

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. But he doesn't own my reviews! Muhahahaa!!!!

Enjoy!

* * *

A Different Reality

-Battle at Enemy Camp Phase 1-

(July 5th; 4:30AM; Masaru's house)

Naruto woke up and began checking to make sure that the necessities they may need for the journey were there. This included things such as explosive notes, soldier pills, extra kunai and shuriken, and food. After making sure they had everything needed, he sealed all the items back into a blue scroll and stored it into one of his pants pockets. He made sure to button the top of the pocket to ensure the scroll wouldn't fall out.

Naruto took out a watch from his pocket to check the time. Reading that it was a quarter to five, he pocketed the watch.

He was used to waking up at such early times. When Jiraiya had noticed that he wasn't a morning person, he made sure to greet Naruto every morning with a bucket full of ice-cold water. Jiraiya continued to do this until Naruto could detect him coming before he committed the act, and when he could wake up fully to stop it. It took him about a month until Jiraiya could no longer catch him off guard. Jiraiya stopped soon after he had caught on, but Naruto couldn't help but want revenge. So one day he woke up a 3:00AM and got said bucket of water. He knew Jiraiya would catch him if he simply walked over to him and dumped it, so he sat on the top of a nearby tree branch with a fishing pole. With the fishing pole in hand he attached the bucket to the hook. The fishing pole was bent quite a bit because of all the weight, but it didn't break to Naruto's pleasure. Making sure the bucket was directly over Jiraiya's head he grinned mischievously. With a shout he had said, "Oh my God! There are naked women bathing on the opposite side of the canyon wall!" Jiraiya woke up instantly and Naruto dropped the line, making sure to flick it just right so it would dump it contents. Jiraiya was soaked, and Naruto soon after found himself dangling above a waterfall upside down.

Naruto smiled at his memories before he looked at Kakashi, who had also woken up due to the small amount of noise Naruto had been making as he checked off the supplies.

Kakashi looked at Naruto, "So we ready to depart?"

Naruto nodded, "Go wake up the others."

Kakashi complied by silently leaving the living room to go upstairs. Naruto made sure to check that his gear was all set, before writing a quick note to tell Masaru that they left and were grateful for his help. Naruto made sure to add a little tip for their troubles as well. He wasn't the type to use other's shelter and food for free.

Kurenai and Asuma entered the living room, followed shortly after by Kakashi. Naruto turned to face them, a calm countenance set in place.

"Okay, check to make sure your gear is in order. Your communication devices should be on at all times for the rest of the mission until deemed safe. You should also be carrying two soldier pills."

The group quickly checked their supplies and nodded. Naruto opened the front door and they filed out. Naruto flicked the inside lock to make sure the door would lock when he shut it.

Naruto felt the cool morning air and smirked, before returning his focus back towards his team. Naruto spoke in a much quieter tone then normal, "We are to take to the roofs, and then the treetops as we move back into the forest. The encampment is a day's travel from here, so if you start using chakra to keep up, let me know so that we can take a break. I don't want the team exhausted when we reach the camp. Now follow me." And with that they disappeared to the rooftops.

* * *

(July 5th; 7:00PM; Hi no Kuni) 

Naruto raised his hand silently to stop the group. They halted on nearby tree branches and waited for Naruto to explain his command or give another. Naruto then pointed to the three scouts who then began to pass by. As soon as they were out of hearing distance Naruto turned to the group.

"Alright, we're stepping into enemy territory as of now, so that means be silent and discreet."

With three nods they started moving again with stealth that distinguished ninja from common warriors. They moved swiftly, covering stretches of ground in seconds. They continued jumping from branch to branch until Naruto gave another halt. They stopped simultaneously around the blonde, each on different tree limbs.

"This is where we split into two groups. We are currently about sixty meters from the South Gate." The group looked ahead of Naruto, and sure enough there was a gate being guarded by two sentinels, which appeared to be samurai.

Asuma turned his attention from the gate to Naruto. "So I'm guessing me and Kurenai are going to wait here."

Naruto nodded, "Correct, you and Kurenai are to wait here for further orders. My clones will also accompany you for the meantime as Kakashi and I go around and set things in place."

After speaking, Naruto put his hands into the familiar cross-shaped seal for Kage Bunshin. Within seconds the group was surrounded by twenty-five Naruto look-alikes. Naruto silently nodded towards Kakashi, and the two departed.

* * *

(July 5th; 7:00PM; Hi no Kuni; Enemy encampment, Main Tent) 

Isoda Kaito stared at Goshiken Kenta incredulously, before placing his hand over his face and shaking his head hopelessly.

"You're a pig, you know that?" Kaito questioned.

Kaito's eyes where a dark blue, but they seemed brighter compared to his dark apparel. He wore standard black shinobi attire, however several small brown bags filled with water lined his waist. His spiky hair was a dark midnight black that slightly framed his face in the front. His facial features were smooth and angular, giving quite the boyish charm. A Hitai-ate was worn on his right arm near his shoulder, the symbol of Ame shone proudly with a horizontal slash through it. A slash on the Hitai-ate was a clear distinction of a missing-nin, one who has abandoned their own home village.

Kenta shrugged, "Your point? At least I enjoy my life with a man's simple pleasures."

Kenta was an imposing plump man, with a rough mug for a face. His eyes were a greedy scarlet and his hair no longer present on the top of his head. His Hitai-ate was worn on his right leg, and it too had a slash through the symbol of Ame.

Kaito replied smoothly, "Yeah by ruining others."

Kenta raised an eyebrow, "What's your point?"

Kaito rolled his eyes before shrugging uncaringly, "Whatever, just make sure you don't piss off Hotara too much. You know how she gets when she sees you having your 'pleasures'."

Kenta scoffed, "It's just because she's a woman herself, and it doesn't seem like she cares too much when I have my fun with the ladies anyway."

Kaito stood up from the chair he had been sitting on, "You'd be quite surprised if you ask me. But do what you want, won't be my problem."

Kento left the tent on his way to have his 'pleasures', leaving Kaito alone in the tent. Sighing Kaito exited the tent as well, deciding on seeing what Isamu was up to.

* * *

(July 5th; 7:15PM; Hi no Kuni) 

Naruto had already dropped off twenty-five clones at the East Gate. Naruto and Kakashi had just reached the North Gate of the enemy encampment. They stood firmly on the branches, hidden among the leaves. Pressing the speaker on the communication device located on his right ear, Naruto spoke.

"What's your status?"

Naruto released the speaker button, as he waited for a reply. After a short moment Asuma's voice responded, "We're doing fine. Sentinels haven't spotted us."

Naruto smirked, "Good, hold position until further orders."

"Copy that."

Naruto turned to Kakashi, "I'm going to send the next batch of Kage Bunshins to the West Gate. Once they're in position, I'll create another batch and everything will be set up according to plan."

Kakashi gave a silent nod, as Naruto put his hands into the familiar cross-shaped seal. Twenty-six clones puffed into existence and departed westward soon after.

As soon as he finished Naruto crouched down, and leaned against the trunk of the tree. He traced a hand through his blond locks as he sighed tiredly, before slowly standing back up.

Kakashi noticed and raised an eyebrow, "Anything bothering you?"

Naruto shook his head, "Meh, it's nothing. It just feels odd to be the one giving commands instead of following them. Ero-sennin made me feel, um, secure I guess. Like if I made a mistake he would back me up, catch me when I fall so to speak. Now that he's not here…"

"You have to support yourself." Kakashi finished.

Naruto gave a solemn nod, "Yeah it's strange, but with this mission I do not only have to support myself but a team as well."

Kakashi sighed, "You're forgetting one thing though."

Naruto raised an eyebrow curiously, "What's that?"

Kakashi gave a serene smile behind his mask, "The team's here to support you as well."

Naruto chuckled, "How right you are. It seems that I still have a lot to learn."

Kakashi closed his visible eye, "Touche."

Unknown to both, there was an eavesdropper on the conversation. His eyes were cold silver, void of all emotions. His spiky hair was a bright flaming red then went to his shoulders. He wore a simple dark black kimono. On the back of the kimono there was a light blue circle with two red triangles coming out on each side.

Leaning back against the trunk of the tree the mysterious figure's form began merging with said tree, before disappearing completely.

* * *

(July 5th; 7:12PM; Hi no Kuni, Enemy encampment) 

Isoda Kaito walked towards the east side of camp as he searched for Kiski Isamu.

Isamu was the strategist of the camp, for his intelligence was high when it came to making the best decisions in a battle or war. Kaito and Isamu were two that knew each other longer then anyone else. The two had known each other more then others due to the fact that they had been in the same graduating class as genin. They also happened to be in the same genin squad, the two had been friends and their third member was usually left in the dark, a third wheel so to speak.

Kaito caught sight of the familiar bright green hair and strode towards it. Isamu noticed his approaching friend and turned towards him. Isamu's mouth remained firm, but twitched slightly to show he was happy to see his ally.

Isamu was about the same height as Kaito, his clothing the same standard shinobi black apparel. His eyes were a dark midnight black that seemed to be characteristically bored in every manner. His hair, bright green in color, fell in silky strands that cut near his jaw line. The front of his forehead was covered with black bangs that fell near his eyes. Two large poleaxes were strapped to his back, the two were crossed of in an x-like shape, and the sharp edges of the poleaxes were near the top, giving an intimidating appearance.

Kaito cheerily smiled towards his friend, "Yo."

Isamu nodded, "What brings you here?"

Kaito rolled his eyes, "Can't I just say hello anymore? I was just trying to strike up a conversation."

Isamu smirked, "Okay so what did you want to talk about?"

Silence

Isamu shut his eyes and nodded mockingly, "That's what I thought."

A red vein made an appearance on Kaito's head, "Ugh, man you're impossible! I was attempting small talk, but I guess that isn't obvious to one so socially impaired as you."

Isamu smirk disappeared, as Shibanuma Ryou approached them.

Noticing the red hair to his right, Kaito turned towards Ryou. "What is it?" Knowing that Ryou only seemed to approach him when something was wrong or when he needed him. Seeing as it wasn't the latter, it only meant something was wrong.

Ryou distant silver eyes focused on Kaito as he spoke, "One of my Shinkiroo Bunshins (Mirage Clones) has picked up intruders near the North Gate."

Kaito raised an eyebrow, "What intruders and how many?"

Ryou continued monotonously, "It appears to be Konoha nins judging by the insignia embedded in their Hitai-ate. I've seen two, one being the infamous Sharingan Kakashi, and the other being an unknown small blond child. By the sounds of it there appears to be more then the two and my Shinkiroo Bunshins are still searching for any others."

Kaito nodded to Ryou as Isamu spoke up, "This does not bode well."

Kaito closed his eyes, "I fear as well."

Isamu looked at Ryou, "Do you know anything else?"

Ryou flicked his eyes towards Isamu, "Yes, the child said something about Kage Bunshins at the West Gate. I already dispatched a Shinkinroo Bunshin to verify the information."

Isamu rubbed his chin, "I wonder what they are up to, because it seems they already have a plan."

Kaito nodded, "I'm going to get Hotara and Kenta. If you get anymore information let me know at once."

* * *

(July 5th; 7:14PM; Hi no Kuni, Enemy encampment) 

"You stupid pig! Kami-sama I can't take it anymore! I'm a woman myself and seeing this is really aggravating!" A woman snapped, a clear red vein present on her forehead.

"Does it really bother you that much Hotara?" Kenta asked, as he held a slim beaten woman's wrists down with his own hands.

The woman dubbed Hotara growled, "Of course you sick pig! I turned my back until now, but you just keep going at it!"

Ariwara Hotara was a beautiful woman that appeared to be around the age of twenty. Her hair was a dark blue and her eyes a bright pink. Her hair was also clipped in the back. She wore a kimono like top with a short skirt bottom. The kimono top was a dark blue with a few cherry blossom petals decorating it. The skirt was the same dark blue as the kimono. And obi was tied around her slim waist, and a shurikan holster was located on her right leg. She also wore a black glove on her right hand, a metal plate located on the back of the hand. An Ame Hitai-ate was worn on her forehead, a slash clearly represented through the middle of the village symbol.

Kenta scoffed, "Typical woman, ruining a man's simple desires."

Hotara growled dangerously, "Woman are not men's toys that they wish to play with whenever they want. Women are men's equals, if not, then they are superior to men."

Kenta gave a smug smirk, "So you think that you are superior to men?"

Hotara gave her own smug smirk in reply, "To men? No. To you? Yes."

Kenta answered with a scowl as he released the woman beneath him and stood up, "Are you picking a fight with me?"

Hotara's smug smirk remained firmly planted on her face, "Maybe, " she mused.

At that moment Kaito entered the scene, an unusual serious expression seemed to make the other two curious. Kaito was never one to wear a serious expression, unless the situation was deemed very serious.

"Stop bickering, it appears we have intruders, Konoha nin to be exact." Kaito spoke, his usual cheerful tone replaced by one authority.

The two stopped glaring at each other, and looked at Kaito, waiting for further orders.

Kaito continued, "Hotara I want you to gather the samurai and move towards the North Gate." Kaito then turned to Kenta, "You're to follow me."

Hotara gave a cheery smile, "Sure Kaito-sama." Hotara created a few Mizu Bunshins (Water clones) and began rounding up the samurai.

Kenta shook his head with a small smile, "I find it odd that you are the only one she is nice to."

Kaito shrugged, "Either that or you're the only one she's mean to."

Kenta smile dropped instantly to a frown, as Kaito chuckled. Kaito finished his chuckling and began walking east, "Come on."

* * *

(July 5th; 7:16PM; Hi no Kuni, outside South Gate of Enemy encampment) 

"Copy that."

Asuma turned to Kurenai, "I guess we wait for now." Twenty-five Naruto Kage Bunshins were hidden in the background effectively, apparently busy with their own devices.

Kurenai sighed, "This is to weird…"

Asuma cocked an eyebrow, "What is?"

Kurenai spoke mockingly, "Oh, just the fact we're are taking orders from an eleven-year old."

Asuma shook his head, "It's not that odd. Just remember the fact that Itachi was much younger when he first started leading teams."

Kurenai sighed, "True…"

Asuma let out a depressed sigh, "It also seems Naruto didn't exactly have a childhood, having the Kyuubi no youko probably denied him a good one from the start. Naruto is rather mature for his age, no matter how childish he may act. His morals and principles show that fact."

Kurenai nodded solemnly in agreement, "It always se-"She stopped mid-sentence, as the kunai she threw lodged into the heart of a nearby eavesdropper. The figure evaporated in a white haze, before disappearing completely.

Kurenai growled softly, "It seems we may have been spotted.

Asuma pushed the speaker on the communication device, "We've been sighted."

There was a short pause before Naruto replied back, "Kakashi believes we may have been to. Remain hidden regardless, and wait for further orders."

"Roger."

* * *

(July5th; 7:20PM; Hi no Kuni, Enemy encampment, Main Tent) 

Kaito and Kenta met up with Isamu and Ryou, they began to make battle plans immediately.

Ryou was the first to speak, "It appears that there are two more Konoha nins, they appear to be jounin. My Shinkiroo Bunshins also noticed that there are Kage Bunshins of the child at each gate."

Kenta scoffed, "Why the heck did they send a genin with three jounins? It makes no sense!"

Kaito rubbed his chin, "Your right, it doesn't…"

Ryou continued, "It appears he is also the leader of the group as well."

Isamu nodded, "I wouldn't underestimate him, for he might be some type of prodigy. On to more pressing matters, it appears they are trying to split our forces."

Kaito nodded in agreement, "Yes, but from what Ryou has been able to pick up it appears that the real threats are at the North and South Gate."

Isamu nodded, "Kaito already has sent Hotara to the North Gate. I believe we should only split our forces in two ways, Kenta and I will go to the South gate while Kaito and Ryou go the North Gate."

Kaito raised an eyebrow, "What about the other three?"

Isamu shook his head, "Take two to the South Gate, and the other one to the North Gate, it matters not which."

"And the rest of the camp?" Kaito questioned.

"We don't have time to organize them, let them do what they please," Isamu replied.

* * *

(July 5th; 7:25PM; Hi no Kuni, outside North Gate of Enemy encampment) 

Naruto faced Kakashi, "My Kage Bunshins are set up at the West Gate."

Kakashi raised a quizzical eyebrow, "How do you know?"

Naruto gave a cheeky grin, "I sent twenty-six clones, meaning one extra, so that I could dispel one to let me knew when they were set. Now…" Naruto put his hands back into the cross-shaped and whispered, "Kage Bunshin no jutsu."

Naruto then pressed the speaker on his right ear, "Commence battle plan."

Kurenai answered this time, "Copy that."

Naruto face changed to one of sheer determination, "Alright after my clones explode I'm going to need some time to recuperate my reserves."

"How much?" Kakashi questioned.

Naruto closed his eyes in silent contemplation, "Hmmm…probably around a full two minutes. Bunshin Bakuha (Shadow Clone Explosion) takes a lot of chakra on its own, and with as much as I am about to do its going to take a lot of chakra."

Kakashi nodded in understanding, knowing that he would probably die from chakra exhaustion if he were to attempt such a large amount.

Naruto grinned, "Let's give them hell."

* * *

(July 5th; 7:29PM; Hi no Kuni, North Gate) 

A large explosion resounded through the camp. The original explosion was followed soon after by more, all within a split second.

"The North Gate has been destroyed!" One of the men shouted as many others began running towards the sign of destruction. More explosions were heard in the distance, the men's eyes widened. "West, South, and East Gate have also been destroyed!"

As the men turned to look at the other Gates in the distance, a flurry of kunai and shuriken rained down upon them. Many of the men collapsed to the ground in pain as the metal weaponry embedded themselves within their skin.

Fifteen Kage Bunshins entered through the North Gate and began disposing of the enemies. Within a few seconds the entire enemy encampment had been turned to a bloody battlefield. Chaos was the perfect word to describe the camp at the moment, for it seemed that none had expected such an attack.

The events at the North Gate were very similar to the other Gates. Kage Bunshins entered through each Gate and began swiftly killing each opponent.

* * *

(July 5th; 7:30PM; Hi no Kuni, outside South Gate of Enemy encampment) 

Asuma and Kurenai watched as ten of Naruto's suicidal shadow clones ran at the gate and exploded. The other fifteen jumped above the destroyed gate and began throwing handfuls of kunai and shuriken. Asuma and Kurenai nodded at each other, before disappearing from the spot they were hiding in within the trees. The two reappeared at the outside of the destroyed gate.

Kurenai flicked her eyes to the right where Asuma was standing, as she took a kunai into her right hand. "Back me up."

Asuma lit a cigarette and placed it in his mouth before giving a confident smirk, "Of course."

With that said the two dashed into the camp.

* * *

(July 5th; 7:32PM; Hi no Kuni, outside North Gate of Enemy encampment) 

Naruto stood up from the branch he was resting on, "Alright, I think I'm ready to go."

Kakashi nodded, and the two vanished in a burst a speed, before reappearing near the North Gate. The two were about to enter the camp when a large spiked ball appeared in front of them. They silently dodged to either side of the metallic weapon, the chain attached to the spiked ball led to their attacker.

Naruto looked at the woman, making a quick observation. He saw the Hitai-ate on her forehead, and knew she was one of the eight. He then looked at the weapon she was holding. The spiked ball was about 40cm in diameter. A long chain was attached to ball which then led to the small brown handle in the woman's left hand.

The woman claimed a mocking tone as she spoke, "Alright pipsqueak, you will be my first opponent seeing as you're only nuisance. After that I'll deal with Sharingan over there. You samurai, keep Sharingan busy while I rid of the kid." The samurai made no protest to her request.

Naruto scoffed, "You'll see that I am anything but a nuisance."

The woman smirked, "Sure kid, just remember that you were the one that put yourself within adult manners."

The samurai began to approach Kakashi, as the woman closed the distance between herself and Naruto. The woman pulled her spiked ball and caught it with her gloved hand. She gave a cocky smirk, "Alright kid, at least put up a good fight."

Naruto replied with his own confident smirk, "Gladly."

The fight began between the two fights when a reckless samurai charged at Kakashi with a battle cry. He stood no chance as Kakashi disposed of him mercilessly with a well-placed shuriken to the throat. The rest of the samurai began to attack him as well, surrounding him in a circle of blades. Kakashi danced around the metal with ease, and cutting down his opponents rapidly.

As this was going on the woman missing nin was the first to attack. She released her chain ball quickly, at a speed that shocked Naruto. Naruto dodged it by jumping to the right. However, the spiked ball's path changed mid-flight. Naruto saw the unexpected action and bent back, the spikes grazed his chest, leaving a small series of cuts. The cuts were quite shallow, so he paid them no heed, for Kyuubi would surely heal the minor wounds. When the ball of spikes passed by his chest far enough, Naruto slipped under the chain and charged towards the now defenseless woman.

The woman snarled, and began pulling the chain back to her gloved hand. Naruto closed the distance between them in a split second. Unable to use her weapon to stop the blond, she twisted her body and punched him with her gloved hand.

Naruto saw the punch coming and caught it, before kicking her stomach at the waist with the opposite leg. The woman grunted, but smirked as her spiked ball was directly behind the blond from when she had pulled it back earlier.

Naruto heard the chains moving behind him and ducked, allowing the ball to continue its original path. The woman's eyes widened as her own weapon began a dangerous collision course with her. Using honed instincts, she changed its flight pattern, making it land to her right. The ground cracked under the ball signifying its heavy weight.

When she had looked back at her opponent Naruto had already taken a kunai and attempted to slit her throat. She pulled back in the nick of time, and the kunai cut her shoulder. She grimaced, but held her pain as she back flipped away from her foe with one hand.

The woman growled, "I guess you're not so bad kid, but you haven't seen anything yet. My name is Ariwara Hotara, what is yours?"

Naruto smiled, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and it was a pleasure doing battle with you."

Hotara raised a quizzical eyebrow, '_Was?'_

Before she could ask, cold metal was placed at her throat. Her eyes widened in shock, as she recognized the person behind her.

"What?" She questioned in shock, before growling in anger, "You don't play fair."

Naruto looked at Kakashi as he held the kunai at Hotara's throat before looking back at Hotara herself. "We're shinobi, not warriors, we don't play fair."

With that statement her life ended as Kakashi slit her throat in a clean swift motion. Naruto emotionlessly watched as Hotara fell to the ground lifelessly.

Kakashi sighed, "We'll get her head later for the bounty. For now let's focus on clearing out this camp."

Naruto nodded soundlessly, death still made him rather uncomfortable, but he would worry about that later. Naruto then noticed the corpses of the fifty samurai behind Kakashi.

"Well I guess that's it for the samurai of the camp." Naruto commented, right before the world faded away to reveal a familiar, but different one.

* * *

CrimsonCat101: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! The last line there, won't make much sense until the next chapter, so don't ask about it.

Review!


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